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18 Mar 2009 : Column 1251W—continued
Teenage Pregnancy: Rotherham
Mr. MacShane: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what recent assessment he has made of trends in the rate of teenage pregnancy in the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham; and if he will make a statement. [263043]
Beverley Hughes: The under-18 conception rate in Rotherham fell by 10.5 per cent. between 1998 (the baseline year for the Teenage Pregnancy strategy) and 2007 (the latest year for which data are available). This is in line with reductions in Yorkshire and Humber region (-10.3 per cent.) and England as a whole (-10.7 per cent.).
The Department of Health’s teenage pregnancy national support team (NST) will be visiting Rotherham in April 2009 to offer support designed to accelerate progress towards the local area’s under-18 conception rate reduction target, based on lessons learnt from local areas where teenage pregnancy rates have fallen fastest. Support from the NST supplements the routine support and challenge provided by the regional government office.
Young Offenders: Crime Prevention
James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what assessment he has made of the results of the 18 pathfinder projects to increase the support for the parents of children and young people at risk of offending; and how much has been spent on such pathfinders to date. [263950]
Beverley Hughes: The Department for Children, Schools and Families does not fund any pathfinder projects that solely focus on parents of children and young people at risk of offending. Since 2006, DCSF has been running the Parenting Early Intervention Programme (PEIP) which aims to increase support for the parents of children and young people at risk of negative outcomes. Findings from an independent evaluation of the 18 PEIP pilots by Warwick university (2006-08) found that the programme attracted over 3,500 parents in need of support to manage their children’s behavioural difficulties. The evaluation found that the pathfinder was successful in rolling out three evidence-based parenting programmes with high levels of positive gains for parents and their children. The final PEIP evaluation report was published in July 2008 and can be found on the DCSF website at:
By the end of 2008-09, up to £16 million will be spent on the PEIP. Up to a further £54 million will be spent on the programme over 2009-11 as it is extended to every local authority.
Youth Clubs
James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of provision of activities at youth centres at times of the day when young people are most likely to commit criminal offences. [263185]
Beverley Hughes: Local authorities have a duty to secure access to positive activities for their young people and to provide them with information on the availability of these activities. We are currently mapping provision in 81 local authority areas, including where it is located and when it is open. This activity aims to identify any possible shortfall in provision on Friday and Saturday nights when the incidence of youth antisocial behaviour is at its highest. This work is ongoing. The information will be used to support the Government’s OPEN drive aimed at influencing local areas to increase provision of positive activities on Friday and Saturday night.
The Government have also provided additional funding to these 81 local authorities to boost Friday and Saturday night provision and ‘all’ local authorities will receive a significant increase in their provision for Positive Activities for Young People in 2009-10—with a strong expectation of an increased focus on Friday and Saturday provision.
International Development
Building Our Common Future Conference
Mr. Scott: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many people who (a) attended and (b) spoke at his Department's building our common future conference on 9 to 10 March 2009 had their (i) flights and (ii) accommodation paid for in full or in part by his Department; and what the cost to his Department was in each category. [263432]
Mr. Douglas Alexander: The Department for International Development (DFID) paid in full or in part, the flights and accommodation costs for 58 conference delegates invited from overseas, of whom 14 were speakers or expert panel discussants. A breakdown of the costs is as follows:
(i) Total cost of flights for Speakers was £14,687.83
Total cost of other delegates' flights was £38,152.46
(ii) Total cost for accommodation for Speakers was £2,868
Total cost for accommodation for other delegates was £11,352.50
Mr. Scott: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what the cost to his Department was of (a) organising and (b) hosting its building our common future conference on 9 to10 March 2009. [263433]
Mr. Douglas Alexander: Costs for the building our common future conference on 9-10 March 2009 are still being finalised. The forecast costs are as follows:
(a) Organising costs, including event preparation and management, participants registration and support, audio-visual costs, stage set and graphics, exhibition costs, conference materials, signs and display materials: £292,048 excluding VAT;
(b) Hosting costs, including venue hire, lunches and refreshments for over 700 participants over the two days, accommodation and travel costs for 58 participants invited from overseas, the provision of a prayer room and carbon offsetting: £166,205 excluding VAT.
Mr. Scott: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what (a) fees and (b) expenses his Department paid to the external speakers who chaired sessions at its building our common future conference on 9 to 10 March 2009. [263434]
Mr. Douglas Alexander: The Department for International Development (DFID) paid no fees and expenses to external speakers for chairing sessions at the ‘Building our Common Future’ conference on 9 and 10 March 2009.
China: Poverty
Mr. Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Government assistance in reducing poverty in China. [264198]
Mr. Michael Foster: The International Development Committee (IDC) issued its report on the Department for International Development's (DFID) programme in China on 11 March (HC 180-1). A copy of the report has been placed in the Library of the House and is available on the DFID website:
“DFID's programmes in China have been extremely effective. The Department has succeeded in doing what very few donors have achieved in China: it has built influential relationships with policy-makers and has found an approach that really works in terms of having an impact on reducing poverty in China—and all with what is, relatively, a very small amount of public money. Cost-efficiency has been maximised by DFID's technique of demonstrating small-scale successes which have subsequently been scaled up by the Chinese Government to national level.”
Departmental Publications
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development pursuant to the answer of 26 February 2009, Official Report, column 1004W, on departmental publications, what the total monthly circulation of his Department’s “Developments” magazine is; and how many copies are sent to Government Departments in each month. [263643]
Mr. Michael Foster: The circulation of the quarterly magazine “Developments”, as of 11 March 2009, is 88,873 copies, of which, nine copies are sent to other Government Departments.
Departmental Training
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development whether his Department has provided voice coaching to any of its employees in the last 12 months. [260651]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: No DFID employees have undertaken specific voice coaching.
Sri Lanka: Politics and Government
Mr. Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent assessment his Department has made of the humanitarian situation in the north of Sri Lanka. [263517]
Mr. Michael Foster: The Department for International Development (DFID) has continued to make limited assessments, hindered by the Sri Lankan Government’s refusal to allow free and full access to the conflict area. DFID has deployed humanitarian specialists to Colombo for some time and a first brief visit, organised by the Sri Lankan Government, took place on the 11-12 March. The DFID specialist was able to confirm that the fierce fighting between the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elaam (LTTE) and Government of Sri Lanka forces has caused the humanitarian situation to deteriorate. Approximately 230,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) are trapped in a decreasing area of LTTE control in the Vanni region.
Reports indicate high numbers of civilian casualties, including many women and children. The International Committee of the Red Cross has made efforts to evacuate more than 2,000 wounded by sea but this is currently blocked by the Sri Lankan Government. There remains an acute need for food and medical supplies and for agencies to be allowed access to the area to deliver desperately needed humanitarian assistance.
We are also concerned about 40,000 IDPs who have escaped and are now subject to heavy control in camps in Vavunia, Mannar and Jaffna districts, where access for agencies to deliver supplies and observe screening processes is also heavily restricted.
As well as exerting pressure on the Sri Lankan Government to improve access, we have allocated an extra £2.5 million of humanitarian assistance to agencies working in Sri Lanka, bringing the total to £5 million this year.
Zimbabwe: Politics and Government
Mr. Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent assessment his Department has made of (a) the scale of the cholera epidemic, (b) food security and (c) prospects for economic stabilisation in Zimbabwe. [263518]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The World Health Organisation (WHO) reports that there are now around 90,000 cholera cases in Zimbabwe with over 4,000 deaths. The figures suggest that the number of new cases is starting to decline and better care at health institutions means that the death rate is also coming down. However, with continuing rains and the fragile state of water and health systems, WHO estimates that the total number of cases may well exceed 100,000.
Recent nutritional assessments have highlighted the seriousness of the food situation and the clear need for ongoing aid. The proportion of children under age five who are underweight was estimated at 17 per cent., a rate that has not changed since 2003 while chronic malnutrition has slightly declined by 2 per cent. to 27 per cent. The number of acutely malnourished children is increasing but at 4.8 per cent. remains below internationally recognised emergency levels (10 per cent.) across the country. UN figures suggest that seven million people will have received food aid in Zimbabwe by February 2009. The next harvest will partly alleviate the situation but early projections suggest a similar scale of food insecurity in 2009-10, with a peak before next year’s harvest.
Economic stabilisation in Zimbabwe will be tough due to the low starting point. GDP has shrunk by 50 per cent. in a decade with all economic sectors suffering from a failure of Government policy. In addition, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has printed the Zimbabwe dollar out of existence so the economy is rapidly dollarising. The IMF and other major financial institutions are currently undertaking missions to Zimbabwe and it is hoped that this will give the international community a clearer picture of the extent of the problem and how best to rectify it.
Energy and Climate Change
Departmental Bank Services
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change with which banks his Department has or has had contracts for the provision of financial advice, for the financial year 2008-09. [262749]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: In 2008-09, the Department has held no contracts for the provision of financial advice with a bank.
Departmental Data Protection
Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change whether his Department uses WPA2 encryption protocol on all its wireless networks. [259796]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: DECC follows CESG guidance on the use of the Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 (WPA2) communications security protocols in order to protect wireless networks carrying protectively marked (up to RESTRICTED/IL3) traffic. The configuration and operation standards for WPA2 are set out in CESG’s Infosec Manual Y, Use of WPA2 Wireless Security in Government Systems.
Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what auditing his Department undertakes to ensure that IT security policies are being followed; and on how many occasions (a) IT security policies have been breached by employees and (b) a member of staff has been sanctioned for a breach of such policies in the last 12 months. [259797]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: The Department of Energy and Climate Change is currently using IT systems provided by the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform and the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs, and is subject to the audit and reporting arrangements for those departments.
Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change if he will place in the Library a copy of his Department’s IT security hierarchy. [259798]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: The Department is currently using IT systems and IT security services provided by the Department of Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform and Department of Environment Food and Rural Affairs, therefore it does not have a separate IT security hierarchy.
Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what scanning for vulnerabilities his Department conducts of each of its IT devices; what method is used for IT device scans; and how many vulnerabilities have been detected as a result of such scans in the last 12 months. [259799]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: It is not in the interest of the security of the Department, or that of the public, to disclose detailed information pertaining to electronic breaches of security of Department's IT systems. Disclosing such information would enable criminals and those who would attempt to cause disruptive threats to the Department to deduce how to conduct attacks and therefore potentially enhance their capability to carry out such attacks.
Anne Main:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what IT security policy his Department has; what procedures are in place to ensure the policy is being followed; what his Department's policy is on
encryption of data when it leaves departmental premises; and what sanctions are in place for failure to comply with this policy. [259855]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: The Department is currently using IT systems provided by the Department of Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform and Department of Environment Food and Rural Affairs, and uses the IT security policies applicable to those systems. This includes the policy on encryption of data. Failure to comply with these policies is normally treated as a disciplinary matter.
Departmental Pay
Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many staff transferred to his Department receive annual remuneration including benefits of £100,000 or more. [257597]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: There are six employees of the Department of Energy and Climate Change who are earning a salary of £100,000 or more from a total staff complement of around 900, all of whom transferred from other Departments.
The Department would incur a disproportionate cost if it were to report how many employees are in receipt of an annual remuneration including benefits (salary, bonus payments and pension benefits) of £100,000 or more.
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