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21 Apr 2008 : Column 1424W—continued
Overseas Aid
Mr. Crabb: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what proportion of total aid spending by his Department was received by the 30 recipients in receipt of the greatest value of aid in 2006-07. [199068]
Mr. Malik: The 30 recipients in receipt of the greatest value of aid received 73 per cent. in total of Department for International Development (DFID) bilateral aid in 2006-07.
Mr. Crabb: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what proportion of aid from his Department to (a) India, (b) Tanzania, (c) Sudan, (d) Bangladesh, (e) Pakistan, (f) Afghanistan, (g) Ethiopia, (h) Nigeria, (i) Uganda, (j) Democratic Republic of Congo, (k) Ghana, (l) Kenya, (m) Malawi, (n) Zambia, (o) Indonesia, (p) Mozambique, (q) Vietnam, (r) Iraq, (s) Nepal and (t) China in 2006-07 was classified as direct budgetary support. [199069]
Mr. Malik: Poverty Reduction Budget Support (PRBS) is aid provided to a partner government to support poverty reduction programmes and spent using the Government’s own financial management, procurement and accountability systems. PRBS includes General Budget Support which aims to help implement the Government’s poverty reduction strategy; and Sector Budget Support which aims to achieve objectives within a particular sector or sectors.
The Department for International Development’s (DFID) total bilateral programme in 2006-07 in the 20 countries listed was £1.65 billion. £448 million of this (27 per cent.) was delivered in the form of PRBS.
Details on the level of PRBS provided to each country and the proportion of DFID’s total bilateral programme that PRBS represents in each country for 2006-07 are in the following table.
| DFID Bilateral Programme, 2006-07 | |||
| Total DFID Bilateral Programme (£000) | Poverty Reduction Budget Support (PRBS) (£000) | Proportion of total Bilateral Programme delivered as PRBS (percentage) | |
DFID did not provide PRBS to Sudan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Indonesia, Iraq or China in 2006-07.
Press
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what the cost of the press offices of (a) his Department, (b) its agencies and (c) its non-departmental public bodies was in each year since1996-97; what the cost was in each quarter since 1 April 2007; and if he will make a statement. [189685]
Gillian Merron: The Department for International Development (DFID) does not have any agencies, and is responsible for two non-departmental public bodies—the Crown Agents Holding and Realisation Board and the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission, which do not have any press offices.
The figures up to 2003 do not cover all press office costs. Prior to 2003-04, press team staff costs can be identified but non-staff costs were not identifiable. Following changes to financial management systems, all press office costs can be identified from 2003.
The annual cost of the press office in DFID since 1996-97 is shown in the following tables.
| Annual cost for staff only (£) | |
| Total annual cost (£) | |
| 2007-08 | Total quarterly cost (£) |
Somalia: Armed Conflict
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what estimate he has made of the number of people who have left (a) Mogadishu and (b) Somalia because of the conflict there. [199446]
Gillian Merron: The UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) estimate that 64,000 Somalis have been forced to leave their homes in Mogadishu during 2008. This is in addition to the 700,000 people displaced from Mogadishu during 2007.
UNHCR also estimate that since 1 January 2008, approximately 15,000 Somalis have sought asylum in neighbouring countries. Provisional UNHCR estimates are that as of the end of 2006 there were 464,253 Somali refugees.
Somalia: Overseas Aid
Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment his Department has made of the level of the assistance provided by (a) French and (b) Danish military forces to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid to Somalia; and if he will make a statement. [199208]
Gillian Merron: A key element in the operational response to the humanitarian situation in Somalia is the logistical effort to deliver food and other relief supplies to Somalia by sea but the threat of piracy in 2007 made delivery hazardous. The introduction of military escorts has been useful, with no incidents of piracy affecting escorted vessels.
Since December 2007 the French and Danish military forces have escorted in total 70,000 metric tonnes of humanitarian aid to Somalia. Consignments included relief materials for UNICEF and UNHCR in addition to World Food Programme food aid. The Dutch military have recently taken over escort duties.
Somalia: Politics and Government
Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what discussions (a) he, (b) members of his Department and (c) UK representatives have had with (i) members and (ii) representatives of (A) the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia, (B) the Government of Ethiopia, (C) the European Commission, (D) the Governments of member states of the European Union and (E) the United States Administration, regarding (1) the provision of basic (aa) humanitarian and (bb) medical supplies and (2) the humanitarian situation in (v) Mudug region, (w) Galgadud region, (x) Nugaal region, (y) Bakool region and (z) Mogadishu; and if he will make a statement. [197173]
Gillian Merron:
Officials at the Department for International Development, together with colleagues at the British high commission in Nairobi and the British embassy in Addis Ababa, are in regular contact with
the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia, including the President and Prime Minister, and with the Government of Ethiopia. The discussions are varied, and the humanitarian situation has been regularly discussed, specifically on allowing agencies and NGOs unhindered access to areas in need.
Officials based in Nairobi meet regularly through the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) to co-ordinate humanitarian assistance. The United States of America, European Commission and member states of the European Union are all represented at these meetings.
The UK Government maintain regular contact with all parties the hon. Member lists. The Minister for Africa at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), my right hon. Friend Lord Malloch Brown, raised humanitarian issues when he met President Yusuf in January 2008 and with Prime Minister Hussein and the Government of Ethiopia at the African Union summit in February 2008. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Hilary Benn)—former Secretary of State for DFID—met with President Yusuf last year and discussed the humanitarian situation.
Most of DFID’s humanitarian assistance (which includes medical supplies) is not earmarked to regions within Somalia. This enables our implementing partners (e.g. the International Committee of the Red Cross and the World Food Programme) to remain flexible and to react to changing circumstances on the ground. However, some of the NGOs that we support work in specific areas, e.g. a nutrition programme with the International Medical Corps (IMC) in Bakool and a nutrition, water and sanitation programme through Action Contre le Faim (ACF) in Galgadud.
Zurich Financial Services
David T.C. Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much his Department paid to Zurich Financial Services in each year since 1997; and what the purpose of the payment was in each case. [199599]
Mr. Malik: The Department for International Development’s central records do not show any payments being made to Zurich Financial Services since 1997.
Transport
Aircraft: Air Conditioning
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what reports she has received on (a) incidents involving the contamination of aircraft cabin air supply by fumes from engine lubricants and (b) the commercial aircraft types which have experienced a contamination of the cabin air supply from the fumes of engine lubricants. [199351]
Jim Fitzpatrick:
The latest information is set out in the following table. It is taken from the Civil Aviation Authority's mandatory occurrence reporting scheme (MORS) database which contains reports of contaminated air events aggregated to include all UK operators. The nature of any potential contaminant is
not recorded on the database, so the fumes could have come from sources other than engine lubricants e.g. chemical toilets or the galley. In 2007, there were 116 contaminated air events (reported to the CAA). These figures are out of 1.3 million airline flights—passenger and cargo operations—for the calendar year 2007.
| Aircraft type | Reportable occurrences involving contaminated air (2007) |
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent representations her Department has received on lubricant contamination of the air supply in aircraft cabins; what discussions she has had with British Aerospace and Civil Aviation Authority on this issue; and whether her Department plans to undertake research into the problem of contamination of cabin air on commercial aircraft. [199352]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The Government are leading research in this area. In 2007 we commissioned a world first research project to try to capture substances released during transient "fume events." The first stage of this work was to identify and test equipment capable of sampling potentially harmful substances in cabin air. The report into this (first stage work) was published by Cranfield University on 21 February after peer review. It is published on the Department's website. The next phase of work is to use the equipment identified to capture real-time fume events; this work is being developed.
We have regular contact with the CAA about this. The Department has had no discussions with BAe or other aircraft manufacturers, but they did give evidence to the Committee on Toxicity enquiry, and a note of the meeting is on the internet at http://www.advisory bodies.doh.gov.uk/pdfs/annex5tox0621note.pdf
Jeremy Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when she plans to publish the results of her Department's research into cabin air sampling. [199882]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The first stage of research, into the capability of equipment to capture fumes in cabin air, was published on 21 February 2008, after peer review. It is on the Department for Transport website at:
We are confident we now have equipment capable of real time cabin air sampling. The second stage of research, to use that equipment on participating airlines, is being developed. We do not expect to be in a position to be able to publish results until 2009.
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