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13 May 2009 : Column 855W—continued
Development Aid
13. Mr. Heathcoat-Amory: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development whether he takes into account the level of military spending by a country in assessing its eligibility for development aid from his Department. [274670]
Mr. Michael Foster: The Department for International Development’s (DFID) policy is to give funding only to those Governments who share our commitment to (i) poverty reduction and achieving the millennium development goals, (ii) human rights and other international obligations and (iii) improving public financial management and accountability. Our assessment of each Government’s commitment is country-specific and covers a wide range of issues. Where relevant, the level of military spending may be one factor. In countries where we decide not to provide funding to the Government, we may provide aid through other channels such as multilateral donors or non-governmental organisations.
St. Helena Airport
14. Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what estimate he has made of the effect on his Department’s aid budget in the long term of the construction of an airport on St. Helena. [274671]
Mr. Michael Foster: The 2005 atkins feasibility study concluded that, without an airport, St. Helena will remain dependent on UK budgetary aid indefinitely. The study predicted that with the introduction of air access and development of the island’s tourism industry, the need for financial support would reduce progressively with the increasing potential for St. Helena to become self sufficient in the long term.
Good Governance
15. Mr. Streeter: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what percentage of his Department’s budget for 2009-10 is planned to be spent on promoting good governance in the developing world. [274672]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: Support for good governance is central to the work of the Department for International Development (DFID). Twenty two per cent. of DFID’s total spend in 2007-08, including that provided through multilateral partners such as the World Bank, the European Union and the United Nations Development Programme, was aimed at improving governance in developing countries. This included developing the capacity and accountability of institutions, such as parliaments and bureaucracies, to function and deliver effectively, as well as supporting civil society to hold governments to account and voice its concerns. We estimate that 23 per cent. of total spend in 2008-09 was similarly aimed and we expect this trend to continue.
Departmental Furniture
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much his Department spent on furniture in each of the last five years. [273722]
Mr. Michael Foster: It is not possible to provide expenditure figures for furniture without incurring disproportionate cost. All furniture expenditure is incurred in accordance with published departmental guidance on financial procedures and propriety, based on the principles of managing public money and the Treasury handbook on regularity and propriety.
Departmental Official Hospitality
Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much his Department has spent on hospitality and entertainment in each of the last five years. [273889]
Mr. Michael Foster: It is not possible to provide expenditure figures for hospitality and entertainment without incurring disproportionate cost. All such costs are made in accordance with published departmental guidance on financial procedures and propriety, based on the principles of managing public money and the Treasury handbook on regularity and propriety.
Departmental Stationery
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much his Department has spent on branded stationery and gifts for (a) internal and (b) external promotional use in each of the last five years. [273785]
Mr. Michael Foster: This information is not held centrally, and would incur disproportionate costs to disaggregate from overall programme costs.
Yemen: Asylum
Mr. Sarwar: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what humanitarian aid his Department is providing to Somali and Ethiopian refugees in Yemen. [273619]
Mr. Michael Foster: The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) is the lead agency in Yemen for supporting Somali and Ethiopian refugees. UNHCR reports that 2008 saw a significant rise in the annual number of refugees arriving in Yemen: up by 70 per cent. to 50,091 during the year. DFID provides core funding of £19 million per year to UNHCR to assist refugees and internally displaced people. Some of that funding will have an impact on UNHCR’s activities in Yemen to support Somali and Ethiopian refugees, as well as vulnerable Yemeni internally displaced persons.
Work and Pensions
Children: Maintenance
Mr. Denis Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) how many (a) complaints and (b) other representations his Department has received on the actions of bailiffs in the pursuit of child support arrears in the last 12 months; [271844]
(2) how much has been paid to bailiffs in fees and charges by the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission and its predecessor for the pursuit of child support arrears in the last 12 months; [271845]
(3) how many licensed bailiffs are engaged by the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission for the pursuit of child support arrears. [271846]
Kitty Ussher: The Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission is responsible for the child maintenance system. I have therefore asked the Child Maintenance Commissioner to write to the hon. Member with the information requested.
In reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about child maintenance, the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Child Maintenance Commissioner as child support is now the responsibility of the Child Maintenance Enforcement Commission.
You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many (a) complaints and (b) other representations his Department has received on the actions of bailiffs in the pursuit of child support arrears in the last 12 months. [271844];
How much has been paid to bailiffs in fees and charges by the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission and its predecessor for the pursuit of child support arrears in the last 12 months. [271845]; and
How many licensed bailiffs are engaged by the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission for the pursuit of child support arrears. [271846]
The Commission currently has contractual arrangements with three bailiff companies. In the 12 months to the end of March 2009, bailiff action resulted in the collection of over £8.9 million in child maintenance arrears, and the Commission paid a total of £1.4 million for this service.
All bailiff firms, including those contracted to the Agency, must comply with the National Standards for Enforcement Agents, a set of common standards produced by the Government as a code of practice. The licensed bailiffs, who work specifically on Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission cases, fall under the management of the bailiff companies who will deal with any complaints made to them. Information on the number of complaints made to the Commission about the action of bailiffs in collecting child support arrears is not available.
I am sorry on this occasion I could not be more helpful.
Departmental Manpower
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many staff work in the System Information and Assurance Group in his Department. [275171]
Jonathan Shaw: The Department’s information security committee (a sub-committee of the Department’s executive Team) is responsible for information security issues across the Department. Operational responsibility for security is assigned to respective chief executives and heads of businesses within the Department. Other senior staff in the Department’s agencies have specific responsibilities for promoting data and IT system security and report to their respective chief executives. The Department does not have a system information and assurance group.
Following the publication of the Cabinet Office’s review of data handling procedures in Government, specific senior civil servants across the Department have been designated as information asset owners who provide assurance to the Department’s senior information risk owner that data assets are properly protected.
The Department also deploys a range of internal and external professional security resources and suppliers to both deliver and assure its IT Infrastructure and systems.
The Department does not publish details of the resources used to provide assurance over IT system security, staff or otherwise, as this could potentially threaten the security of information.
Departmental Telephone Services
John Battle: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the average time was for which telephone callers to his Department's helplines spent in a queue in the latest period for which information is available. [271118]
Mr. McNulty: Waiting time will vary significantly between days of the week and across the day depending on the type of benefit and query. Complex calls involving the longest handling times will usually incur the longest wait time at busiest periods.
| DWP Help line | Line type | Average response time minutes and seconds. |
The above table shows the lines dealing with Crisis Loans as incurring the longest waiting times. Jobcentre Plus has a national recovery plan in place and is taking several measures to address this.
Housing Benefit: Fraud
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many completed cases in which the defendant or defendants were accused of housing benefit fraud were brought to court in each of the last three years; how many prosecutions were successful; and what the average fine paid by a guilty party was in each such year. [274822]
Kitty Ussher: Information available for Great Britain for the last three years for which data are available is provided in the table.
| Number of prosecutions | Number of guilty verdicts | |
| Source: Housing Operational Database located at: http://www.dwp.gov.uk/asd/hobod/ | ||
The Department does not hold the information requested on fines paid by guilty parties following a prosecution for housing benefit.
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