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27 Apr 2009 : Column 1010W—continued
International Development
Afghanistan: Drugs
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps his Department has taken to persuade farmers in Afghanistan to diversify crop production away from poppy production; what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of such initiatives; what estimate he has made of the costs incurred to date; and if he will make a statement. [269811]
Mr. Thomas: Progress is being made on promoting legal crop growing and on reducing poppy production in Afghanistan. The number of poppy free provinces has increased from three in 2006 to 13 in 2007 and 18 in 2008. Poppy cultivation fell in 2008 by 19 per cent. across Afghanistan, and the percentage of agricultural land devoted to poppy growing has fallen to just 2 per cent.
The UK Government support the Government of Afghanistan's National Drug Control Strategy (NDCS) by creating immediate and long-term opportunities for legal livelihoods.
The Department for International Development (DFID) and the World Bank jointly funded an assessment of the economic incentives of development initiatives designed to reduce opium production. This is available at:
http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/SOUTHASIAEXT/0„contentMDK: 21636749~paqePK:146736~piPK:146830~ theSitePK:223547.00.html
Our support to licit livelihoods takes account of the key findings of this study.
Between 2006-09 DFID spent over £62 million promoting legal livelihoods and has pledged £60 million in support of national agricultural and rural development programmes and £68 million for relevant work in Helmand province between 2009-10 and 2012-13. This support will be aligned with the NDCS, Afghanistan National Development Strategy (ANDS) and the key findings of the 'Economic Incentives' report.
Afghanistan: Life Expectancy
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what estimate he has made of the effect of the military conflict in Afghanistan on the life expectancy of children and adults in that country; and if he will make a statement. [270099]
Mr. Michael Foster: It is not possible to estimate the effect of the military conflict in Afghanistan on the life expectancy of children and adults.
Data for life expectancy and infant mortality in Afghanistan are produced by the United Nations (UN) and available online at:
http://hdrstats.undp.org/countries/data sheets/cty_ds_AFG.html
Afghanistan: Reconstruction
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of co-operation between EU member states on work on Afghanistan’s development and reconstruction strategy; and if he will make a statement. [270102]
Mr. Michael Foster: The implementation of the Afghanistan National Development Strategy (ANDS) in June 2008 has improved co-operation between EU member states. International donors are now aligning their support behind a nationally-owned and implemented strategy for development and reconstruction.
EU member states meet regularly to review the European Commission’s Country Strategy for Afghanistan (2007-13). The EU Code of Conduct on the Division of Labour in Development Policy guides discussions on how member states will support the Government of Afghanistan.
EU member states also support the overall co-ordinating role of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA). The Government of Afghanistan and UNAMA recently secured EU member state and other donor support for new nationally-led strategies for private sector development and agriculture.
Afghanistan: Water
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what estimate he has made of the proportion of the Afghan population with access to clean water supplies (a) in 2000 and (b) at the latest date for which information is available. [270098]
Mr. Thomas: Historical data on Afghanistan are poor and it is not possible to provide an estimate of the proportion of the Afghan population with access to clean water supplies in 2000.
The Government of Afghanistan carried out a National Risk and Vulnerability Assessment (NRVA) in 2007. The preliminary estimates from this report found that 41 per cent. of the Afghan population have access to safe drinking water (urban and rural).
The full results from this report will be available on the Central Statistics Office, Afghanistan website:
Africa: Overseas Aid
Mr. Sarwar: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development which countries will receive funding from the £100 million funding recently announced by the Government to improve transport links in east and southern Africa. [270252]
Mr. Thomas: Funding will be used to improve transport links and regional trade infrastructure along the north-south corridor in east and southern Africa. Countries linked by the north-south corridor are the Democratic Republic of Congo, Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
Work to improve trade agreements and how these agreements are administrated will also be funded, and will benefit the member states of: the Common Market
for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA); East African Community (EAC) and Southern African Development Community (SADC).
I also refer my hon. Friend to the written ministerial statement I made on 23 April 2009, Official Report, columns 25-26WS.
Asylum: Thailand
Mr. Andrew Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what reports he has received on the percentage of people in refugee camps on the Thailand-Burma border who are malnourished. [269181]
Mr. Michael Foster: The Thailand Burma Border Consortium (TBBC) carries out annual nutrition surveys of children aged between six months and five years who are living in the refugee camps on the Thailand Burma border. According to TBBC's 2008 survey, the rates were 2.7 per cent. for acute malnutrition and 36.2 per cent. for chronic malnutrition.
Burma: Overseas Aid
Mr. Andrew Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development whether staff of his Department based in Burma have free access to visit all projects in Burma which his Department funds. [269182]
Mr. Michael Foster: Staff from the Department for International Development (DFID) are required to obtain permission from the Burmese authorities before visiting projects outside the city of Rangoon. Permission is usually granted routinely, and we have been able to monitor the progress of our projects effectively.
Mr. Andrew Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what reports he has received of additional restrictions on access to the delta region of Burma imposed on aid workers in the last six months. [269183]
Mr. Michael Foster: Access for aid workers to the Irrawaddy Delta region of Burma has remained good for the last six months.
Earlier this month, responsibility for issuing visas to certain aid agency staff working in the Delta was transferred from the Tripartite Core Group (comprising representatives of the Burma Government, the United Nations and the Association of South East Asian Nations) to the Burmese Foreign Affairs Policy Committee and line Ministries. It is too early yet to assess whether this move will have a significant impact on humanitarian access to the Delta. The European Union, and other international donors, have raised the procedural changes with the Burmese authorities and expressed their concern that humanitarian access should not be affected.
Mr. Andrew Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment his Department has made of (a) levels of poverty in Burma and (b) how aid to that country should be targeted. [269184]
Mr. Michael Foster: Little reliable data are available on Burma, but it is clear that poverty levels are very high and getting worse. The most recent overview of poverty across most of the country was an assessment of household living conditions which the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) published in June 2007. This assessment found that over a third of the population lived below the poverty line, and 10 per cent. were in extreme poverty. The assessment was not able to cover areas affected by conflict, where poverty levels are likely to be even higher. Since the UNDP assessment, Burma was struck by Cyclone Nargis in May 2008, and the global economic downturn has reduced the income of many households. In addition, many parts of Chin State have experienced severe food shortages as a result of rat infestations; and conflict continues in some other border areas.
In response to this deepening poverty, DFID will expand its aid to Burma by £10 million in each of the financial years 2009-10 and 2010-11. These increases are in addition to those agreed under the comprehensive spending review. We now plan to spend £25 million on Burma in 2009-10 and £28 million in 2010-11. About 60 per cent. of the increase will be allocated to cyclone-related assistance, and about 40 per cent. to DFID's regular programme of humanitarian aid across the whole country.
The additional cyclone-related assistance will be focused on health, basic education and the restoration of people's livelihoods in rural areas. Much of the increase for the regular programme will be used to help fill funding gaps faced by the Three Diseases Fund to combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. We are at the same time increasing our support to refugees, IDPs and others living in conflict affected areas of Burma. We recently agreed additional funding of up to £280,000 in response to the food shortages in Chin State.
Our assistance will continue to be channelled through the United Nations and national and international non-governmental organisations, in line with the European Union Common Position on Burma.
Cameroon: Illegal Immigrants
Jo Swinson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what representations he has received on allegations of connections between the Cameroon Parliamentary Caucus for Environmental Protection and illegal immigration activities; and if he will make a statement. [270024]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: Officials from the Department for International Development (DFID) and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) are aware of a number of reports relating to allegations of connections between the Cameroon Parliamentary Caucus for Environmental Protection and illegal immigration activities. We are very concerned to hear of these allegations. DFID has had no significant funding or other relations with the Caucus—other than some minor support in kind through a DFID funded project, the Forest Governance Facility between March 2007 and the summer of 2008. The FCO, through the British high commission in Yaounde, has provided no funds to the Caucus and has reviewed its portfolio to ensure that no UK funds are being misused by any individuals involved in the Caucus who may also be involved in the work of other related organisations.
Departmental Disciplinary Proceedings
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many staff in his Department (a) were disciplined and (b) had their employment terminated as a result of a poor sickness record in each of the last 12 months. [262237]
Mr. Thomas: Information on sick absence records in DFID can be located on the departmental website at:
Less than five employees have been disciplined or had their employment terminated as a result of poor sickness records in the last 12-month period.
Departmental ICT
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what estimate he has made of the (a) energy consumed by, (b) energy cost of and (c) carbon dioxide emissions from each category of IT device in each division of his Department in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [269550]
Mr. Michael Foster: The Department for International Development (DFID) has a substantial IT infrastructure with a wide range of IT devices. We have taken steps recently to form baselines on total energy consumption across a large part of the IT estate in the United Kingdom. This is largely based around our data centre in Scotland and our key IT server rooms. We are at the early stages of this base lining process; to provide the actual breakdowns requested in this question would incur disproportionate costs.
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps his Department has taken to address the effect on levels of carbon dioxide emissions from his Department of its ICT purchases since the publication of the Greening Government ICT Strategy; and if he will make a statement. [269564]
Mr. Michael Foster: The Department for International Development already had measures in place to ensure that all ICT procurement complied with the latest guidelines on energy efficiency before the launch of the Greening Government strategy. The evaluation criteria used in all ICT procurement specifically covers green IT and energy efficiency.
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what the average server capacity utilisation by each division of his Department was in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [269579]
Mr. Michael Foster: The Department for International Development has over 400 servers in use across the organisation. Around 200 of these are in the UK and the remainder are overseas. We have various monitoring tools across our infrastructure but we do not currently collect ongoing specific statistics on server capacity utilisation. To provide the information requested in this question would incur disproportionate cost.
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what estimate has been made of the proportion of personal computers in each of his Department’s offices that are turned off (a) overnight, (b) at weekends and (c) during holiday periods; and if he will make a statement. [269619]
Mr. Michael Foster: The Department for International Development’s (DFID) policy is that all personal electrical equipment, including computers, printers and photocopiers, must be switched off when not in use. The latest weekly check on DFID’s two offices in the United Kingdom reported that 77 per cent. of electrical equipment had been switched off. It would incur disproportionate cost to break this information down as requested and to isolate personal computers from other equipment.
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many and what proportion of IT products in each category procured for each division of his Department were compliant with the Government's Buy Sustainable-Quick Win standard in the latest year for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement. [269635]
Mr. Michael Foster: All products that the Department for International Development (DFID) has purchased that fall within the Office of Government Commerce's IT category were compliant with the Government's Buy-Sustainable-Quick Win standard.
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many (a) printers and (b) multi-function devices with printing functions were in use in each division of his Department in each of the last five years; how many such devices had a function enabling two-sided printing; and if he will make a statement. [269663]
Mr. Michael Foster: The number of printers and multi-function devices in use at the Department for International Development (DFID) in the United Kingdom over the last five years is as follows:
| Printers | Multi-function devices | |
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