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17 Nov 2008 : Column 114W—continued
Trade: Commonwealth
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what recent discussions have taken place between his Department and Commonwealth governments to encourage intra-Commonwealth trade. [229386]
Mr. Thomas: The Department has many discussions with Governments of Commonwealth countries in support of the Department’s key objective of delivering free and fair trade. These have included in the past three months discussions with the New Zealand high commissioner and Trade Minister, the Jamaican Minister for Commerce and Investment, Jamaica Trade and Invest, the Sri Lankan Minister for Commerce, the Commonwealth Business Council the UK/Caribbean Forum and the Cameroonian Prime Minister.
Waste Disposal: EU Law
Mr. Burstow:
To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory
Reform how many and what tonnage of waste products were (a) recycled and (b) sent for energy recovery under the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive in the first compliance period, broken down by region. [235464]
Ian Pearson: The level of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) which is treated and reprocessed on behalf of UK producers is only recorded at a national level. During the first compliance period (1 July to 31 December 2007), 184,334.13 tonnes of WEEE was separately collected, sent for treatment, recovery and recycling or re-used as whole appliances.
Written Questions: Government Responses
Mr. Malins: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform when he plans to reply to question 232194, tabled by the hon. Member for Woking on 28 October 2008, on branded golf balls. [236049]
Mr. McFadden: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 11 November 2008, Official Report, column 1128W.
International Development
Afghanistan
Mr. Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what the standard tour of duty is for personnel sent to Afghanistan; and how much decompression time is provided at the end of each tour. [236208]
Mr. Douglas Alexander: The Department for International Development (DFID) has employees operating in both Kabul and in the Helmand region of Afghanistan. The standard tour length for employees posted to Kabul is one year and for Helmand it is six months. Employees may be offered the option of extending their tour by up to a further one year in Kabul and six months in Helmand.
At the end of their posting employees who have served one year in Afghanistan must take a minimum of four weeks annual leave (accumulated while at post) to ensure an acceptable decompression period before taking up their next posting. Employees who have served for 18 months should take a minimum of five weeks, and those who have been in country for two years should take a minimum of six weeks.
Democratic Republic of Congo: Overseas Aid
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what humanitarian assistance the Government are providing to citizens of the Democratic Republic of Congo. [235374]
Mr. Douglas Alexander: The Department for International Development (DFID) is one of the largest and most active humanitarian donors in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). A recent additional £5 million contribution for the crisis in North Kivu brings our total contribution in 2008 to £42 million. We are also engaged with humanitarian contacts, not least as current chair of the Good Humanitarian Donorship Group in DRC, to help assess the situation, co-ordinate donors and ensure that together donors respond to priority needs.
Following a request from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the Department for International Development (DFID) is organising relief flights with plastic sheeting, blankets, water purification tablets and buckets for immediate distribution to those in need. DFID funded partners are able to get some assistance to those displaced and in need in and around Goma and some of the secure outlying areas. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), UNICEF, the World Food Programme (WFP) and non-governmental partners such as Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), Merlin and the International Rescue Committee (IRC) have been providing immediate relief aid such as emergency food, health, shelter and non-food items.
Departmental ICT
Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many (a) memory sticks, (b) laptop computers, (c) desktop computers, (d) hard drives and (e) mobile telephones were (i) lost by and (ii) stolen from his Department in each year since 1997. [234095]
Mr. Douglas Alexander: Central accounting records detailing write-off and lost information are held by the Department for International Development (DFID) for up to seven years. On this basis we have detailed property lost or stolen since financial year 2001-02. Information is provided in the following table.
All DFID laptops have secure encryption technology and no data have been put at risk. All losses and thefts are investigated by our Business Solutions Division and Security section for breach of security practice.
| Type | Classification | 2001-02 | 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | Total |
Departmental Older Workers
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many people recruited by his Department in 2007-08 were aged over (a) 55 years and (b) 60 years; and what percentage this represented of the number of new recruits in each case. [235242]
Mr. Thomas: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 3 November 2008, Official Repor t , columns 109-10W to the hon. Member for Upper Bann (David Simpson).
Departmental Procurement
Mr. Prisk: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what proportion of invoices for goods and services procured from small and medium-sized businesses were paid within 30 days of receipt by (a) his Department and (b) the agencies for which his Department is responsible in 2007-08; and if he will make a statement. [226497]
Mr. Douglas Alexander: The Department for International Development (DFID) does not currently publish information about size of suppliers as this does not fully reflect the number and size of businesses engaged in supplying to Government. We do not discriminate by size of business because many SMEs can be found within larger supply chains. Alongside speeding up Government payment we are also looking to lead contractors to pass on the benefits to smaller suppliers in their supply chains.
The proportion of invoices for all goods and services paid within 30 days of receipt by DFID in 2007-08 was 94.5 per cent.
I welcome the statement by the Prime Minister at Prime Minister's Questions on 8 October 2008, Official Report, column 268-9 and will ensure that DFID works towards making payment of all invoices as soon as possible and within 10 days.
Developing Countries: Education
Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps his Department is taking to reduce the number of out-of-school disabled children in developing countries. [236733]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The UK Government are spending £8.5 billion over the period 2006-07—2015-16 in support of education in developing countries. This will help support partner countries’ plans, policies and programmes to ensure that children, including those with disabilities, benefit from quality education. We are working with partners to ensure inclusive education strategies are integral to these plans and specifically that access to education by children with special needs is addressed.
The Department for International Development’s (DFID) policy in support of the disadvantaged is laid out in the paper “Reducing poverty by tackling social exclusion”. The paper is available in the House Library and on the DFID website:
and recognises that certain groups of children including girls, are more likely to be excluded from school on basis of caste, ethnicity, religion or disability and that children with special needs constitute a significant group that is denied education.
Development Aid: Conferences
Mr. Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what his Department’s objectives are for the Financing for Development Conference in Doha; what Ministerial and official level representation there will be from his Department as part of the British delegation to the summit; what discussions he has had with the (a) Prime Minister and (b) Chancellor of the Exchequer about this summit; and if he will make a statement. [234962]
Mr. Douglas Alexander: The Department for International Development (DFID) wishes to see the Doha Conference reconfirm the commitment of developed, emerging and developing countries, originally expressed in 2002 at Monterrey, to work together to meet the challenges of financing for development and to meet the Millennium Development Goals. In support of this, developed countries should reaffirm that, despite current economic difficulties, they will meet their aid commitments and will work with developing countries to help them respond to current challenges.
I will represent the UK Government at the conference, accompanied by a small delegation of officials from my Department.
There is considerable ongoing co-ordination across Whitehall in preparation for the conference, with regular engagement from all relevant Departments.
Iraq and Afghanistan: Armed Conflict
Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what instructions his Department gave to its staff in (a) Iraq and (b) Afghanistan during 2005 on (i) the use of and (ii) travelling in Snatch Land Rovers; and when those instructions were issued. [235468]
Mr. Douglas Alexander: The Department for International Development (DFID) does not comment on specific issues of staff security overseas.
Overseas Aid: Expenditure
Mr. Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what estimate he has made of the (a) number of remittances and (b) monetary value of remittances sent from the UK to each recipient developing country in each of the last three years. [234963]
Mr. Douglas Alexander: Estimates of total personal remittance flows from the UK are included in the UK Balance of Payments “Pink Book”, table 5.1, within the published series for “other receipts of and payments by households and non-profit institutions serving households (NPISH)”. This is available online:
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