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14 May 2009 : Column 972W—continued
The sentence lengths given in the table are in accordance with normal practice. The figures are a re-working of material published in the Prison Statistics of England and Wales, 1997-2002 and Offender Management Caseload Statistics, 2003-07, copies of which are available in the House of Commons Library.
These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.
Young Offenders: Reoffenders
Mr. Burrowes: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what estimate he has made of the re-offending rates of persons discharged from (a) young offender institutions, (b) secure training centres and (c) secure children's homes in each of the next 12 months. [274996]
Mr. Hanson: The Government have a target to achieve a 10 per cent. reduction in the frequency rate of reoffending by 2011 against the 2005 baseline. We do not forecast on a monthly basis.
The latest National Statistics on reoffending shows that there has been a 16.2 per cent. fall in the frequency rate of reoffending of juveniles (both male and female) released from custody between 2000 and 2006. Overall the frequency rate of juvenile reoffending has fallen by 18.7 per cent. between 2000 and 2006.
Youth Custody
Mr. Burrowes:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what estimate he has made of the size of the juvenile population in (a) young offender institutions,
(b) secure training centres and (c) secure children's homes in each of the next 12 months. [274997]
Mr. Hanson: The Youth Justice Board (YJB) is responsible for commissioning and purchasing places in the under-18 secure estate. It monitors the demand for places and adjusts capacity across the estate when necessary in response to changes in demand.
The YJB recently analysed the level of demand for secure training centre and secure children's home places in order to determine the optimum number of SCH beds to be commissioned in the recent contracting round. It looked at data relating to the last three years. The YJB is confident that the number of places being commissioned over the next 12 months in each sector of the under-18 secure estate will meet demand.
Mr. Burrowes: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many children were moved (a) from secure training centres to secure children's homes and (b) from secure children's homes to secure training centres in the last 12 months. [274998]
Mr. Hanson: The Youth Justice Board records individual movements between establishments but does not centrally collate the data in a format which would enable it to provide the information requested. To do that would require a review of each case over the past 12 months, which could not be undertaken without incurring disproportionate costs.
Mr. Burrowes: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many children from (a) London and (b) the South East outside London the Youth Justice Board were sent to (i) secure children's homes and (ii) secure training centres in the last 12 months. [274999]
Mr. Hanson: The following table sets out how many young people from London and the South East region have been remanded in, or sentenced to, custody by the courts and subsequently placed by the Youth Justice Board in secure training centres or secure children's homes in the period, 1 April 2008 to 31 March 2009.
| Region | S ecure children’s home | S ecure training centre | Total |
These data have been supplied by the Youth Justice Board from administrative computer systems.
International Development
Afghanistan: Overseas Aid
Mr. Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent steps his Department has taken to provide humanitarian assistance in Afghanistan. [275065]
Mr. Michael Foster:
The Department for International Development (DFID) contributed £17 million in 2008 to the UN World Food Programme (WFP) emergency appeals which respond to chronic food insecurity in Afghanistan. These appeals reached 8.7 million of
Afghanistan’s most vulnerable people. WFP assessments indicate that in-country stocks are now sufficient to meet needs until the next harvest.
DFID also allocated £10 million over five years (2008-13) to the HALO trust, in addition to £3 million this year of core funding, to help expand their de-mining operations in Afghanistan. £4 million was also provided (2007-08) to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to support enforcement of international humanitarian law and facilitate the supply of humanitarian assistance in Afghanistan.
In addition, DFID provides core funding to the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Food Programme (WFP), and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), all of whom have operations in Afghanistan.
CDC
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will instruct CDC Group to publish a financial review for 2008. [273628]
Mr. Douglas Alexander: CDC published its annual report and accounts for 2008 on 30 April 2009. These are available from the CDC website at:
and in the Library of the House.
Democratic Republic of Congo: Politics and Government
Mr. Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what his most recent assessment is of the humanitarian situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo. [275066]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: I visited eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) from 26 to 29 April 2009 and was made acutely aware of the alarming humanitarian situation. The Lords Resistance Army (LRA), FDLR (ex-FAR Interhamwe) and other rebel groups, continue to prey on the civilian population, provoking displacement and untold suffering. The United Nations (UN) estimates some 1.7 million are displaced, with over 300,000 newly displaced in 2009. The humanitarian community is currently bracing itself for the humanitarian consequences of the joint FARDC and MONUC military operation against the FDLR (Operation Kimia II) in South Kivu and has, as a result, developed contingency plans. In meetings with MONUC, I pressed upon MONUC the importance of ensuring adequate steps are taken to mitigate the impact of military operations on civilians and to work closely with the humanitarian community.
The well-established humanitarian response to the ongoing crisis in eastern DRC is able to cope with current levels of displacement and existing need. DFID established Rapid Response Mechanism (RRM) in 2005, run by UNICEF with NGO partners, to provide water and sanitation, shelter, non-food items and education for conflict affected populations. Other DFID partners, including Oxfam, IRC, MERLIN and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) provide food, nutrition and health assistance. However, DFID is constantly assessing the situation and is ready to provide additional support if necessary.
Developing Countries: Malaria
Mr. Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps his Department is taking to tackle malaria in the developing world. [275002]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The UK Government provide significant support for efforts to reduce malaria. We have committed £1 billion from 2008 to 2015 to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, as well as directly supporting developing countries, research and other international organisations. To date we have provided £49 million in support to the Roll Back Malaria partnership. We are providing £40 million for the Affordable Medicines Facility for Malaria (AMFm)—a financing mechanism to make effective malaria drugs available and affordable through public, private and non-governmental channels. The UK is also providing 20 million extra bed nets towards achieving the goal of universal bed net coverage by 2010.
Mr. Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what support his Department is giving to developing countries for measures to reduce the number of deaths from malaria. [275026]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The UK Government's support to reduce the number of deaths from malaria is provided through global partnerships; multilateral agencies; and bilateral country programmes. Most of these are for both the treatment of malaria and reduction of incidence, including through widespread use of insecticide treated mosquito nets (ITNs).
We have committed £1 billion from 2008 to 2015 to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria. The UK is also providing 20 million extra bed nets towards achieving the goal of universal bed net coverage by 2010. Our bilateral programmes focus on giving support to countries to develop strong and sustainable health systems that are able to scale-up the coverage of treatment including artemisinin combination therapy (ACT) and ITNs. In Kenya our support includes the purchase and distribution of 14 million ITNs and 5 million re-treatment kits. In Mozambique our support will help reach their Ministry of Health's target of 95 per cent. ITN coverage for pregnant women and children under five in at least one province and at least 60 per cent. in two other provinces.
Food Supply
Mr. Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what additional resources his Department is providing for measures to combat world food shortages in the global economic downturn. [275029]
Mr. Michael Foster: To combat world food shortages the UK Government have announced a package of assistance worth over £908 million to tackle high food prices. This included both short and long-term measures:
£400 million for agricultural research over five years
£30 million to the World Food Programme
£22 million extra for the Ethiopia safety net (July 08)
£8 million for nutrition monitoring
£76 million for road building in DRC
£32 million for social protection in Mozambique and Bangladesh
£6.5 million for food aid and agricultural inputs for Afghanistan
£217 million in budget support for Ghana, Uganda and Malawi.
More information and analysis of progress towards meeting the MDG 1 Hunger target and what the UK is doing to achieve this target is available in the DFID Hunger Factsheet.
Mr. Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent assessment he has made of progress in ensuring global food security. [275030]
Mr. Michael Foster: Global food price rises at the end of 2007 and throughout 2008 have hit the poorest people in developing countries the hardest. While international prices for most food commodities have come down, they remain high, especially at country level, and over 900 million people cannot meet their food needs. Globally the number of hungry people is forecast to top one billion this year. Food security is now threatened by the global economic crisis. The problem continues not just because prices remain high in many developing countries, but also because recession is reducing people's incomes.
The UK has led the international response and has called for all donors, international organisations, private sector and civil society to double efforts to tackle global hunger and poverty. UK has announced a package of assistance worth over £908 million to tackle high food prices. The UK Prime Minister has emphasised it would be wrong to reduce support for poor countries at this time.
More information and analysis of progress towards meeting the MDG 1 Hunger target and what the UK is doing to achieve this target is available in the DFID Hunger Factsheet.
HIV Infection: International Co-operation
Mr. Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what discussions he has had with his international counterparts on global efforts to address HIV/AIDS. [275006]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: Department for International Development (DFID) Ministers and officials maintain an extensive dialogue with key international partners. I have recently discussed AIDS issues with senior figures at the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, World Health Organisation, UN Population Fund and World Bank and with Ministers during recent country visits to Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi.
There is regular ongoing UK/US dialogue between Ministers, and at official level between DFID and PEPFAR staff (The US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief). These discussions will continue.
Overseas Aid
Mr. Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent assessment he has made of progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goal of halving poverty and hunger by 2015; and if he will make a statement. [274933]
Mr. Michael Foster: Global food price rises at the end of 2007 and throughout 2008 have hit the poorest people in developing countries the hardest. Higher food prices have triggered an increase in hunger worldwide—last year 75 million more people have been pushed into hunger—making the task of reaching the MDG 1 target more difficult. Furthermore in many developing countries recession is reducing people’s income, making it harder to buy food. While international prices for most food commodities have come down, they remain high, especially at country level, and over 900 million people cannot meet their food needs. However, hunger has been reduced in Eastern and South East Asia and these regions, along with Latin America and Caribbean, are expected to meet the target.
More information and analysis of progress towards meeting the MDG 1 Hunger target and what the UK is doing to achieve this target is available in the “DFID Hunger Factsheet”.
Mr. Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what percentage of his Department’s aid to (a) Africa, (b) Asia and (c) the Americas was allocated to (i) agricultural support, (ii) education and (iii) health care in each of the last three years for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement. [274934]
Mr. Michael Foster: Details on the UK’s bilateral expenditure 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.
| Proportion of DFID bilateral expenditure to Africa, Asia and the Americas by broad sector, 2005-06 to 2007-08 | ||||
| Percentage | ||||
| 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | ||
| Note: Negative figures represent accounting adjustments, not a net flow to the UK. | ||||
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