| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
12 Oct 2009 : Column 74W—continued
Afghanistan: Overseas Aid
Mr. Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development pursuant to the answer of 15 July 2009, Official Report, columns 508-09W, on Afghanistan: overseas aid, when he expects the 48 kilometre road through the Babaji area to be completed; and when he expects work on the hydro-power plant in Geresk to be completed. [289655]
Mr. Michael Foster: The two projects are currently early in the design stage. The implementation of the projects will be co-funded with other donors and is due to be completed by 2013 at the earliest given their scale.
Afghanistan: Reconstruction
Mr. Ellwood:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development pursuant to the answer of 16 July 2009, Official Report, column 675W, on Afghanistan: theme parks, what his estimate is of the number of people who
have used the Park for Women in Lashkar each week since its establishment; and what recent assessment he has made of the condition of the park. [289628]
Mr. Michael Foster: Although there are no accurate figures for park usage, we have reports that the Bolan Park is busy most evenings, and on Fridays usually reaches full capacity.
Responsibility for park maintenance was transferred to the Afghan Government in 2008. While we monitor the overall impact of our stabilisation and development projects, we do not routinely check such details as the condition of and use of the park, which is now a matter for the Afghan Government.
Budget April 2009
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many copies of the Budget 2009 Report his Department ordered; and what the cost of that order was. [290267]
Mr. Michael Foster: The Department's financial reporting system holds no record of ordering any copies of the Budget 2009 report.
Departmental Advertising
Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much his Department spent on newspaper advertising by publication in the latest year for which figures are available. [289476]
Mr. Michael Foster: The following table sets out the Department for International Development's newspaper advertising costs during the financial year 2008-09, and from April 2009 to date, the majority of which is in recruitment advertising.
| Publication | Cost (£) |
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development on which initiatives of his Department and its agencies expenditure on advertising has been incurred in each of the last five years; how much was spent on each such initiative; and which such initiatives were advertised through the Central Office of Information. [290150]
Mr. Michael Foster:
In the last five years the Department for International Development (DFID) has spent the
following on advertising and publicity. 98 per cent. of this expenditure has been for procurement and recruitment reasons.
| Total amount (£) | Amount spent via CO I | |
DFID has advertised other initiatives that do not fall into the categories above over the last five years, but information on them is not held centrally and cannot be provided without incurring disproportionate costs.
DFID has one non-departmental public body, the Commonwealth Scholarships Commission (CSC) which undertakes publicity and advertising to promote scholarship opportunities and the Commission's Professional Fellowship Programme. The breakdown of spend over the last five years is shown as follows:
| Total amount | Amount spent via COI | |
Departmental Dismissal
Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many staff have (a) been dismissed and (b) had their contract terminated by his Department in each of the last five years; what the reason was in each case; and what the severance costs in relation to (i) dismissal and (ii) contract termination were in each such year. [290553]
Mr. Michael Foster: In each of the last five financial years the number of Home Civil Service staff dismissed was less than five. Providing the specific numbers could potentially identify individuals concerned and so breach confidentiality.
Departmental Electronic Equipment
Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many laptop computers have been issued to staff of his Department in each of the last five years; and how many of these were issued to (i) new staff and (ii) existing staff following the (A) loss or (B) theft of a previous device. [290549]
Mr. Michael Foster: The numbers of laptops issued to Department for International Development (DFID) staff in each of the last five years is as follows:
| Financial year | Laptops issued | Issued to existing staff after loss | Issued to existing staff after theft |
The increased number in 2007-08 corresponded with a laptop refresh project. DFID does not differentiate between new and existing staff when issuing laptops.
Departmental Flexible Working
Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what flexi-time arrangements were available to staff of his Department in each of the last five years; and how many staff participated in such arrangements in each such year. [290555]
Mr. Michael Foster: The Department for International Development (DFID) operates a Flexible Working Hours Scheme (FWHS). This allows employees to work additional hours and convert them into leave, up to a maximum of three days in every four week period.
It is a matter for each member of staff to apply to join the FWHS, approval being granted through line management. It is not possible to supply details on staff participation as records are not kept centrally.
The FWHS has been in operation for a number of years, and the only change made to the scheme in the last five years has been to increase the amount of additional hours employees are allowed to convert into leave for every four week period, from two days to three days.
Departmental Information and Communications Technology
Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what IT systems have been in development for use within his Department in the last five years; what the reason for the development of each system was; how much has been spent on the development of each system; and which systems have been subsequently (a) implemented, (b) terminated prior to implementation and (c) terminated following implementation. [290550]
Mr. Michael Foster: The following IT systems have been in development for use within the Department for International Development since July 2004:
The Quest project introduced an Electronic Document and Records Management (EDRM) system, upgraded the Email system and Desktop software, and developed a Collaborative Working system. The project was completed in March 2006 at a cost of £11.68 million.
The ARIES Enterprise Resource Planning system was developed to support DFID's project management, finance, procurement and reporting needs. The contract cost was £17.6 million, and the system has been operational since November 2007.
The HR Transformation project was primarily a business change project but included a number of smaller IT components to help manage staff administration, including the Performance Management System and 360 Feedback System. The cost of the HR Transformation project was £6.0 million.
The Knowledge and Information Management Programme began in 2008 and contains a number of IT projects, including the Chapter system to manage ministerial and parliamentary correspondence and an upgrade to the Quest EDRM system. The programme is on track to complete in March 2011. The current cost estimate is £6.8 million.
All the systems mentioned have been implemented and are in use. No major IT systems have been terminated either prior to implementation or before their planned lifespan after implementation.
One IT project run by DFID Pakistan was cancelled in September 2008. The project had spent £7,000 at the point of cancellation.
Departmental Manpower
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what percentage of staff of his Department are (a) male and (b) female. [290407]
Mr. Michael Foster: Civil service statistics are collected by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) from the Annual Civil Service Employment Survey. The latest published statistics are for 31 March 2008 available at:
Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what estimate he has made of the average length of employment of staff of his Department at each civil service pay band. [290552]
Mr. Michael Foster: Details of the average length of service of Home Civil Service (HCS) staff in the Department for International Development (DFID), is shown in the following table:
| Pay band | Average length of service (approximate) |
John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many staff there were in his Department (a) in 1997 and (b) on the latest date for which figures are available. [292066]
Mr. Michael Foster: Details of Home Civil Service (HCS) staffing numbers within the Department for International Development (DFID) as at (a) 1997, and (b) end of September 2009 (the latest figures available) are shown in the following table.
Numbers of our staff appointed in country (SAIC) are shown separately. These are staff engaged locally overseas, on local terms and conditions, to support our work in developing countries.
| Home Civil Service (HCS) staff | Staff Appointed in Country (SAIC) | Total | |
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |