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23 Feb 2009 : Column 269W—continued
Morphine: Developing Countries
John Battle: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps his Department is taking to provide morphine supplies to developing countries for medical purposes; and if he will make a statement. [255481]
Mr. Michael Foster:
The Department for International Development (DFID) is working with the Foreign Office,
the Home Office, and the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), to press for greater recognition of the importance of access to controlled medicines, including oral morphine, at the forthcoming Commission on Narcotic Drugs in March 2009. This is being supported through a DFID-funded post in the UK Mission in Vienna. We are also working with the US Government to identify pilot countries in which we can support greater access to oral opiates for pain relief and for use in harm reduction interventions for injecting drug users.
Major legal and regulatory barriers to access for strong analgesics, such as oral morphine, have been identified in many countries in DFID commissioned research studies. We have discussed these barriers with experts from multilateral agencies and national governments, and developed a programme of work aimed at overcoming them. Further information on DFID funded research is available on the DFID website:
Overseas Aid
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development (1) how much aid his Department has provided to Zimbabwe in the last 12 months; [256648]
(2) how much aid his Department has provided to (a) Bangladesh, (b) Sri Lanka, (c) Lebanon and (d) Somalia in the last 12 months; [256587]
(3) how much aid his Department has provided to the Democratic Republic of Congo in the last 12 months; [256582]
(4) how much aid his Department has provided to Somaliland in the last 12 months; [256581]
(5) how much aid his Department has provided to Gaza in the last 12 months. [256579]
Mr. Michael Foster: Details on the Department for International Development (DFID) bilateral expenditure and imputed share of multilateral Official Development Assistance (ODA) are contained in the DFID publication ‘Statistics on International Development’. This publication is available from in the Library and online at:
Relevant figures are produced in the following table.
It is difficult to give precise figures for Gaza, as some of our aid is earmarked for activities in both Gaza and the west bank. Figures for both Gaza and the west bank are presented below. Similarly, it is not possible to give separate figures for Somaliland, as it is part of the Somalia programme. Figures for Somalia are produced in the following table.
| DFID expenditure in 2007-08 | ||
| £000 | ||
| Total DFID bilateral expenditure | DFID imputed multilateral shares | |
St. Helena: Economic Growth
Meg Munn: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent discussions he has had with businesses on the development of the economy of St Helena. [257951]
Mr. Michael Foster: I met representatives of Impregilo on 10 February in regard to their tender for the St. Helena airport project. I intend to meet representatives of the St. Helena Leisure Corporation (Shelco) shortly.
Through our support to the St. Helena Development Agency, we maintain regular contact with the private sector in St. Helena, including the St. Helena Chamber of Commerce, the Tourism Association and other local businesses. The Agency also maintains dialogue with inward investors and provides assistance to those seeking to invest in St. Helena.
Tax Havens: Developing Countries
Mr. Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent estimate he has made of the level of tax revenue lost in developing countries from the use by multinational companies operating in those countries of tax havens. [255729]
Mr. Timms: I have been asked to reply.
There is no official estimate of the level of tax revenues lost in developing countries by these means. DFID, in consultation with HMT and HMRC, has commissioned research into this subject which it is hoped will be completed by the end of the year.
Tuberculosis
Mr. Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what proportion of tuberculosis (TB) patients being cared for in programmes funded by his Department are tested for HIV; and what proportion of HIV patients in such programmes are tested for TB. [256131]
Mr. Michael Foster: The Department for International Development (DFID) funds TB and HIV programmes through support to global partnerships; such as the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria (GFATM) and UNITAID, multilateral organisations such as the World Health Organisation, support to countries and support for research. Our funds are often pooled with that of other donors and partner countries. We also support the broader health sector plans of developing country governments through sector wide programming and poverty reduction budget support.
It is difficult to attribute the proportion of TB patients who are also tested for HIV and the proportion of HIV patients tested for TB. However, in a number of countries supported by DFID, the co-ordination of TB and HIV programmes is continuing to improve. The World Health Organisation reports that there has been a substantial improvement in TB-HIV collaboration activities. The provision of HIV testing for TB patients between 2002 and 2006 increased from 21,806 across nine countries in 2002 to 687,174 patients across 112 countries in 2006.
Screening for TB among HIV positive people attending HIV care services grew from 194,718 in 2005 to 314,394 people in 2006.
Mr. Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what support his Department provides to organisations developing tuberculosis diagnostics for use in developing countries. [256133]
Mr. Michael Foster: Between 2005 and 2008 the Department for International Development (DFID) provided £5.5 million for the Special Programme for Research and Training on Tropical Diseases (TDR; UNICEF/UNDP/World Bank/WHO) between 2005 and 2008. TDR focuses on accelerating the development of new diagnostics, including for tuberculosis, and identifying those which may be appropriate and useful for developing countries. We are in the first stage of a competition, inviting expressions of interest from organisations involved in product development, which will lead to bids for our research funding. We expect groups working on diagnostics to be among the applicants.
Mr. Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development with which organisations his Department is working to develop a new vaccine against tuberculosis for use in developing countries. [256134]
Mr. Michael Foster: The Department for International Development (DFID), along with other donors, supports the Advanced Market Commitment (AMC). This is an innovative funding mechanism, which commits governments to fund an agreed volume of doses at an agreed price if a product is successfully developed. This AMC will be formally implemented in the first half of 2009 and accelerate the introduction and distribution in developing countries of pneumococcal vaccine.
There is significant expectation around the launch of a second AMC. This would potentially be targeted at developing a vaccine for tuberculosis (TB), but there are other critical diseases (such as malaria) that also need to be addressed.
The UK is focused on completing the implementation of the pneumococcal vaccine AMC. Following completion, we plan to reconvene the group of independent international experts (that recommended that the first AMC address pneumococcus) and request that they to make a recommendation for the next AMC.
We are in the first stage of a competition, inviting expressions of interest from organisations involved in product development, which will lead to bids for our research funding. We expect groups working on vaccines to be among the applicants.
Mr. Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps his Department is taking to ensure that all tuberculosis (TB) patients in developing countries have access to quality TB diagnostic services and treatment. [256218]
Mr. Michael Foster:
The Department for International Development (DFID) supports access to quality TB diagnostic services and treatment through: international organisations and partnerships, countries' TB programmes,
and health systems strengthening. We provide core funding to the World Health Organisation (WHO) and to the Stop TB Partnership. We pledged up to £1 billion for 2008-15 to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, and made a long-term commitment to the international drug purchase facility UNITAID starting with €20 million in 2007.
Examples of DFID support to countries' TB programmes include:
In China, funding from DFID and other donors has contributed to increasing detection rates from 30 per cent. in 2002 to over 70 per cent. in 2007; cure rates are now well above 85 per cent. and 1.5 million patients are being successfully treated.
In India, we support the national TB programme which has treated 6.3 million patients and saved 1.1 million lives since 1997.
DFID provides budget support to Pakistan, where case detection rates increased from 13 per cent. in 2002 to 51 per cent. in 2006 and to 69 per cent. in 2007.
Mr. Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development (1) what assessment his Department has made of the effect of extensively drug-resistant strains of tuberculosis in developing countries on the prospects of fulfilment of the Global Plan to Stop TB; [256219]
(2) what steps his Department is taking to prevent the spread of drug-resistant tuberculosis globally. [256132]
Mr. Michael Foster: The emergence of drug resistant strains of tuberculosis (TB) pose a serious threat to achieving the goals of the Global Plan to Stop TB. The response to drug resistant TB falls far short of what is needed. Much more needs to be done to ensure prompt quality diagnosis and effective treatment.
The Department for International Development (DFID) funds research into new TB drugs, through the Global Alliance for TB Drugs, and also operational research. In 2006 DFID provided an additional £1.6 million to the Stop TB Partnership to address extensively drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB) in South Africa. This was in response to an urgent request from the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Prompt diagnosis and effective treatment is essential to prevent the emergence of drug resistance. DFID supports actions to strengthen TB programmes through international organisations such as the World Health Organisation, global partnerships such as the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and UNITAID, our support to countries' health systems and our funding for research. By 1 December 2008, global fund-supported programmes had detected and treated 4.6 million additional cases of infectious tuberculosis.
Written Questions: Government Responses
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development when he plans to answer Question 246213, tabled by the hon. Member for Stroud on 17 December 2008, on UK National Action Plan on UN Security Council Resolution 1325 and Afghanistan. [255640]
Mr. Michael Foster: The parliamentary question referred to by my hon. Friend was transferred to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and answered on 12 February 2009, Official Report, column 2308-09W.
Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform
Arms Trade
Harry Cohen: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what the Government’s policy is on UK companies exhibiting at the International Defence Exhibition and Seminar in Karachi; what guidance his Department issues to companies on (a) exhibiting at overseas arms exhibitions and (b) exporting arms to (i) Sudan and (ii) Zimbabwe; and if he will make a statement. [253391]
Mr. Thomas: UK companies’ attendance at overseas defence exhibitions is a matter for those companies and the exhibition organisers. Guidance on the impact of the UK’s trade controls’ on exhibitions is available on the BERR website. Further guidance may be given to companies as appropriate by export control advisers in BERR so that their attendance at an exhibition may comply with UK law on the export of defence goods, including in respect of embargoed destinations such as Zimbabwe, and Sudan. UKTI Defence and Security Organisation offers support and advice to defence and security companies to assist them succeed internationally. That organisation attended the recent defence exhibition and seminar in Karachi and displayed a range of equipment in accordance with UK law on exports.
Australia: Overseas Trade
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what the monetary value of trade between the UK and (a) Queensland, (b) New South Wales and (c) Western Australia was in each of the last five years for which figures are available. [256590]
Mr. Thomas: The United Kingdom does not produce statistics on trade with sub-national parts of other countries. The Australian Government publishes some data on trade between the UK and individual Australian states and territories, for example at:
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what the monetary value of (a) exports from the UK to Australia and (b) imports from Australia to the UK was in each of the last five years for which figures are available. [256591]
Mr. Thomas: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave him on 8 December 2008, Official Report, column 23W.
On 10 February 2009, the Office for National Statistics published its first estimates of trade in goods for 2008: UK exports of goods to Australia were worth £3,091 million and UK imports of goods were worth £2,378 million. Figures for UK trade in services with Australia in 2008 are due to be published in the late summer.
Bed and Breakfast Accommodation
Mr. Paice: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what estimate he has made of the number of bed and breakfast establishments in (a) rural areas and ( b) urban areas in each year since 1997. [255743]
Kevin Brennan: I have been asked to reply.
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated February 2009:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question concerning what estimate has been made of the number of bed and breakfast establishments in (a) rural areas and (b) urban areas in each year since 1997 (255743).
The main source of business count estimates is the Inter-Departmental Business Register (IDBR). The IDBR comprises of VAT and/or PAYE registered businesses, however most bed and breakfast establishments will fall below the threshold for VAT and PAYE registration and so will be excluded.
The table below covers those enterprises registered for VAT and/or PAYE held on the IDBR and classified, using the Standard Industrial Classification (2003), to subclass 5523/9 “other tourist or short stay accommodation”. This subclass includes guest houses, farmhouses, inns with letting rooms and other facilities not elsewhere classified. Statistics on urban and rural geography are only available for England and Wales and from 2005 onwards.
| Count of VAT and/or PAYE based Enterprises in England and Wales by SIC2003 subclass 5523/9 and Urban/Rural split | |||
| Data as at March of the year specified | Rural | Urban | Total |
| Note: All figures have been rounded to avoid disclosure. | |||
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