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25 Mar 2009 : Column 399W—continued
Overseas Aid
Mr. Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what mechanisms to ensure co-ordination between countries which give aid to developing nations the UK participates in; and if he will make a statement. [264833]
Mr. Michael Foster: The UK Government strongly support and promote co-ordination among donors on both policy and implementation. At the global level the UK participates fully in co-ordination, for example through the Development Assistance Committee of the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development and the UN Development Co-operation Forum. The UK strongly supports the 2005 Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness and the 2008 Accra Agenda for Action (AAA) which contain specific commitments by donor countries and recipients to better co-ordinate development efforts. The UK is on target to meet all Paris Declaration targets by 2010.
In accordance with Paris targets, UK seeks to align its country programmes with partner country priorities and to harmonise and co-ordinate with other donors. This is achieved through Joint Assistance Strategies
with other donors, in support of partner Governments setting out their development policies and how they wish donors to provide development assistance. The UK also co-ordinates closely with other donors in co-financing partner country programmes.
Overseas Aid: Water
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development pursuant to the Answer of 16 March 2009, Official Report, column 873W, on Africa: water, how his Department’s budget for its five-year water, sanitation and hygiene education programme is to be distributed. [265773]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The Department for International Development (DFID) in 2008 committed £1 billion over five years to increase our efforts to improve access to water and sanitation in Africa. This funding will be distributed through our country programmes in those African countries that are currently most off-track in making progress against the millennium development goals (MDGs)—most notably, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and the Sudan.
Further information on DFID’s water and sanitation policy is available in the 2008 strategy “Water: an increasingly precious resource, Sanitation: a matter of dignity” which is on the DFID website:
Sudan: Armed Conflict
John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what estimate he has made of the monthly death rate in Darfur from (a) violence and (b) disease or malnutrition. [265472]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: It is not possible to obtain regular mortality figures in Darfur or to disaggregate by cause. The UN Emergency Relief Co-ordinator, John Holmes, has suggested that the conflict in Darfur may have caused up to 300,000 deaths since the beginning of the conflict in 2003.
Sudan: Internally Displaced Persons
John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what estimate he has made of the number of displaced persons in Darfur in each of the last five years. [265363]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has estimated that the number of people still internally displaced in Darfur at the end of each of the last five years as follows:
| Number | |
John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent estimate he has made of the number of internally displaced persons in camps in Darfur. [265474]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The most recent estimate for internally displaced people (IDPs) in Darfur was undertaken by the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in January 2009, which reported 2,667,682 IDPs.
Sudan: Overseas Aid
John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what the level of UK humanitarian aid to Darfur was in each of the last five years. [265473]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The Department for International Development (DFID) does not systematically disaggregate humanitarian aid by region within Sudan. Most of DFID’s humanitarian funding is channelled through the Common Humanitarian Fund (CHF) or appeal funding to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). According to Good Humanitarian Donorship principles, we cannot earmark funding by region within these instruments.
Sudan: Politics and Government
John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what representations he has made to the Sudanese Government on the expulsion of aid agencies from Sudan. [265396]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The British ambassador has urged the Government of Sudan (GoS) to allow NGOs to continue their work. The European Union (EU) issued a statement on 10 March calling upon GoS to urgently reconsider their decision, and ensure that continued humanitarian assistance to the most vulnerable people in Sudan be restored. European Foreign Ministers discussed the situation again on 16 March and reiterated this message. We have, through official and ministerial level contacts, urged China, Russia, and Sudan’s African and Arab neighbours to press GoS to reverse their decision. The Secretary of State discussed this issue with regional African leaders, including Prime Minister Meles of Ethiopia, in the margins of the Africa Outreach meeting on 16 March. We have both had meetings with John Holmes, the UN’s Emergency Relief Co-ordinator. The UN is having extensive discussions with GoS in country.
Zimbabwe: Overseas Aid
John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what the level of UK humanitarian aid to Zimbabwe will be in 2009-10. [265454]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The UK has provided approximately £49 million in the financial year 2008-09 to Zimbabwe to tackle the humanitarian crisis. We envisage a similar scale of support for 2009-10 dependent on the political situation.
Northern Ireland
Departmental Official Hospitality
Mr. Rob Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1) what his Department’s entertainment budget was in each of the last five years; [261109]
(2) how much his Department has spent on (a) alcohol and (b) food in each of the last five years. [261161]
Mr. Woodward: The Northern Ireland Office (NIO) records expenditure for entertainment, alcohol and food, under the description of either hospitality or catering. Due to the high volume of transactions within these expenditure areas it would be possible to extract the information only at disproportionate cost.
The Northern Ireland Office’s finance system is unable to provide prior year budget figures for five years, however, the following table shows the NIO’s expenditure, excluding agencies and executive NDPBs, on hospitality and catering in the last five years:
| Hospitality and catering expenditure (£000) | |
Hospitality events include Royal Garden Parties and receptions hosted at Hillsborough Castle, which acknowledge the contribution made by a wide range of people to life in Northern Ireland. These include representatives from the voluntary and business sectors and also the police and armed forces. The additional spending in 2006-07 is due to hospitality and catering costs relating to the political talks held at St. Andrews.
All expenditure has to be incurred in accordance with the principles of Managing Public Money and the Treasury handbook on Regularity and Propriety.
Departmental Public Consultation
Mr. Vara: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many public consultations his Department has conducted in the last 12 months; how long each consultation was open for; how many responses were received in each case; and what the cost of conducting each consultation was. [259695]
Mr. Woodward: My Department, excluding agencies and non-departmental public bodies, conducted 13 public consultations in the last 12 months. Of the 13 consultations, all were 12 weeks long with the exception of number seven and nine which were 19 and 16 weeks respectively. The following table shows how many responses were received in each case and what the cost of conducting each consultation was.
| Consultation number | Number of responses received in each consultation | Cost of conducting each consultation( 1) (£) |
| (1) In the cost of conducting each consultation staff time has not been taken into account. | ||
Political Parties: Finance
Andrew Mackinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland with reference to the letter from the hon. Member for Thurrock of 12 March 2009, on donations by Irish citizens and bodies to Northern Ireland political parties, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to prohibit a registered political party in Great Britain from transferring or donating funds to a registered political party in Northern Ireland. [266279]
Paul Goggins: Irish citizens and bodies may donate to Northern Ireland political parties but not to parties in Great Britain. To ensure that donations from Irish citizens and bodies cannot be made indirectly to parties in Great Britain, section 71C of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 prevents Northern Ireland political parties from donating to recipients in Great Britain. There are no plans to bring forward legislative proposals to prevent parties in Great Britain from donating to Northern Ireland recipients.
Andrew Mackinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland with reference to the letter from the hon. Member for Thurrock of 12 March 2009, on donations by Irish citizens and bodies to Northern Ireland political parties, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to restrict the list of permissible donors to registered political parties in Northern Ireland to those who are (a) resident and (b) registered as electors in (i) the UK and (ii) the Irish Republic. [266280]
Paul Goggins: The list of those permitted to donate to registered political parties in Northern Ireland includes those specified in section 54(2) of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000. In 2007, Parliament also agreed that the list should be extended to include Irish citizens and bodies specified in the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 (Northern Ireland Political Parties) Order 2007. There are no plans to further amend the list of permissible donors who may donate to Northern Ireland political parties.
Treasury
Bank Notes
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the value of the monetary notes of each denomination of sterling paper currency in circulation on the latest date for which figures are available. [265823]
Ian Pearson: The following table summarises the total value of Bank of England notes in circulation as of 27 February 2009.
| Bank of England notes in circulation (value in £ million) | |
The following table shows the figures reported for commercial banks that issue their own banknotes. These are estimates based on information reported to HM Revenue and Customs for the average of the four-week period ending 24 January 2009. Where numbers do not sum this is due to rounding.
| Total value of notes of denomination £5 and upwards | Total value of notes of denomination under £5 | Estimated commercial notes in circulation (value in £ million) t otal | |
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