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30 Nov 2009 : Column 430W—continued
Somalia: Fisheries
Mr. Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs with reference to the answer of 14 May 2009, Official Report, column 922W, on Somalia: fisheries, if he will propose (a) EU and (b) international action to assess the scale and source of illegal fishing in Somali waters. [301967]
David Miliband: The international community, including the UK, is keen to ensure that illegal fishing does not occur in Somali territorial waters, and to this end is seeking to help Somalia regularise its maritime claims and laws relating to maritime security. This would be the essential first step towards establishing what fishing activity could be regarded as illegal, as well as towards credible and effective fisheries licensing and enforcement.
We recognise the concerns of the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia (TFG) and the Somali population about illegal fishing. The international community, including the EU, is engaging with the TFG on this issue both on the UN Security Council and in the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia.
Sudan: Politics and Government
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent reports he has received of an attack on the south Sudanese Minister Dr Samson Kwaje; what recent assessment he has made of the security situation in Southern Sudan; and whether he has had recent discussions with President Salva Kiir of southern Sudan on the security situation in that area. [301724]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 2 November 2009, Official Report, column 669W.
We understand that Minister Samson Kwaje was shot and injured while promoting voter registration in Western Equatoria State. We understand that he sought hospital treatment and is recovering.
We are concerned at such incidents of violence and urge all involved to ensure that voter registration, and other preparations for the elections in April 2010, are conducted in a peaceful manner.
We are very concerned by the continuing insecurity in South Sudan as a result of tribal violence and activity by the Lord's Resistance Army.
We have not had any recent discussions about this with President Kiir, however, EU High Representative, Javier Solana, met President Kiir in Brussels last week and discussed these issues with him. My ministerial colleagues, as well as senior officials, have raised security issues recently with the Government of National Unity and the Government of South Sudan.
Surveillance
Patrick Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many covert human intelligence sources (a) the Secret Intelligence Service and (b) GCHQ have recruited in each year since 2000. [303144]
Chris Bryant: It is the long-standing policy of the Government not to comment on operational intelligence matters.
Western Sahara: Land Mines
Mark Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports he has received of the use by Morocco of antipersonnel mines in those areas of Western Sahara under its occupation; and if he will make a statement. [301734]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The Government have not received any reports on the use of antipersonnel mines by Morocco in the territory of Western Sahara. In his report of 13 April 2009, the UN Secretary-General did not report any activity that indicated the laying down of antipersonnel mines in Western Sahara.
The UN Secretary-General did however report on the efforts of the Royal Moroccan army to destroy mines, unexploded ordinance and expired ammunition.
International Development
Afghanistan: Reconstruction
Mr. Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development with reference to the answer of 3 November 2009, Official Report, column 931W, on Afghanistan: UK Trade and Investment, if he will provide (a) a breakdown of the £30 million his Department has contributed to the Harakat investment and (b) a statement of the aims and objectives of the financial contribution. [301970]
Mr. Douglas Alexander: The Department for International Development (DFID) has committed £30 million over seven years (2008-15) to Harakat (Afghanistan Investment Climate Facility). Harakat is managed by an independent board, on which DFID is represented, which decides how funds are allocated and spent. To date, £3.5 million has been spent on a number of projects which include: the modernisation of the land registry system; streamlining of business licensing; and the establishment of the Afghanistan training Institute for Banking and Finance.
Harakat's aim is to boost growth and investment, and contribute to employment creation in Afghanistan. Harakat has eight objectives which can be found on their website at:
Climate Change
Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many (a) Ministers and (b) civil servants from his Department plan to attend the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen; how many will be travelling by air; and at what cost to the public purse. [302380]
Mr. Douglas Alexander: Plans for travel to the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen are not yet finalised. All official travel is undertaken in accordance with the Ministerial Code and the civil service code.
Departmental Internet
Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many (a) page hits and (b) visitors his Department's website received in 2008-09. [301857]
Mr. Michael Foster: The Department for International Development's website received (a) 5,950,218 page views and (b) 1,173,112 unique visitors in 2008-09.
Departmental Scientists
Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many (a) scientific advisers and (b) civil servants in scientific posts there are in his Department. [301923]
Mr. Michael Foster: The Department for International Development (DFID) has two civil servant scientific advisers not working in a scientific post, and a further five research-active scientists on secondment from UK universities. In addition, DFID also has a rich vein of civil servant professional advisers with a scientific background who are not employed by DFID as scientists.
Developing Countries: Family Planning
Chris McCafferty: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what guidance his Department has issued to his Department's country offices on incorporating (a) sexual and reproductive health and rights, (b) family planning and (c) abortion services into country strategy papers. [301051]
Mr. Michael Foster: The Department for International Development (DFID) is committed to sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) including improved access to family planning and safe abortion services. We are working internationally and through our country offices to advance progress on SRHR. This is central to achieving the millennium development goals including maternal health, reducing child mortality, AIDS response and women's empowerment.
DFID has policy papers that guide our approach to improving SRHR including the Maternal Health Strategy, Position Paper on SRHR and Achieving Universal Access-the UK's strategy for halting and reversing the spreading of HIV in the developing world. In addition, DFID recently issued an updated policy paper on safe and unsafe abortion which clearly demonstrates DFID's commitment to preventing unsafe abortion and improving access to safe abortion. All policy papers are available on DFID's website at:
Regional and country programmes reflect DFID's priorities in the areas of SRHR as appropriate to the country context. Where it is difficult for country offices to work directly on an issue, e.g. safe abortion where the national legal framework does not support this, DFID considers support through regional programming. This is why DFID has committed £6.5 million over five years to support regional work to increase access to safe abortion in sub-Saharan Africa.
Chris McCafferty: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development (1) what steps his Department is taking to ensure that family planning and safe abortion services are included in essential health packages of countries to which his Department provides assistance; [301052]
(2) which Country Strategy Papers prepared by his Department refer to (a) sexual and reproductive health and rights, (b) family planning and (c) abortion. [301053]
Mr. Michael Foster: Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR), including family planning and safe abortion services, are key to the provision of essential health care. The Department for International Development (DFID) works through a number of formal and informal processes to ensure that these essential health outcomes are addressed both in policy and implementation. Examples of DFID's work include:
Direct contributions to the health budgets of our partner countries as well as sector-wide programmes. Improving access to family planning is a key part of policy dialogue and bilateral programme support in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.
Supporting action to improve access to safe abortion (as outlined in our recent policy paper on safe and unsafe abortion) through different mechanisms depending on the legal framework and political sensitivity in country.
Supporting regional and multilateral programmes to improve access to safe abortion and other services in Africa such as UNFPA's Global Programme for Reproductive Health Commodity Security to which with DFID has committed £100 million over a five year period.
All DFID country programmes which spend more than £20 million per year are required to produce and publish country plans. These are available via the DFID website. Of the 15 reports currently available 12 refer to SRHR or a key element of SRHR (maternal health, family planning or HIV prevention) and the remaining three make reference to efforts to improve basic health care services.
Driving
Dr. Ladyman: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what mechanisms are in place to ensure that staff who drive (a) a vehicle for which his Department is responsible have valid driving licences and (b) their own vehicles in the course of their official duties have valid driving licences and insurance; what guidance is issued to those staff in respect of road safety while carrying out official duties; what steps are taken to monitor compliance with that guidance; what requirements there are on such staff to report to their line managers accidents in which they are involved while driving in the course of their official duties; and whether such reports are investigated. [302173]
Mr. Michael Foster: The estates and logistics manager in each of the Department for International Development's (DFID) offices where vehicles are provided, or, in the rare instances where staff use their own vehicles, has the responsibility of checking for a valid driving licence and insurance certificate. In addition, the travel claims section of the finance department maintains copies of insurance certificates from claimants and verifies that these are still valid prior to payment of all mileage claims.
Each office provides a Transport Handbook which sets out road safety advice such as local rules and customs and parts of town to avoid.
All staff are required to report accidents and near misses both in the office and in the course of their official duties outside the office, in accordance with health and safety legislation. All such reports would be reviewed by the internal health and safety team as appropriate.
Gaza: Reconstruction
Mr. Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what proportion of the £47 million pledged by the UK for immediate humanitarian assistance, early recovery and reconstruction in Gaza has been disbursed; and what assessment has been made of the effect of this funding on the humanitarian situation in Gaza. [301992]
Mr. Michael Foster: £27 million of the UK's pledge of £47 million has been allocated for immediate humanitarian assistance and early recovery work in Gaza, and £20 million for reconstruction.
The UK has spent £18.3 million of the £27 million pledged for humanitarian assistance and early recovery activities, and we expect to have spent all of this funding by the end of March 2010. However, due to restrictions on the entry of building materials into Gaza, the UK has not yet been able to spend any of the £20 million earmarked for reconstruction. We stand ready to provide support as soon as the situation improves, and continue to press the Israeli Government for improved access to Gaza.
UK support is helping to make a real difference in Gaza. For example, UK funding to Oxfam helped provide clean water to over 63,000 people and improved sanitation for more than 100,000 people. Our funding to the World Food Programme and UN Relief and Works Agency helps provide food to more than 900,000 people.
Mr. Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what progress has been made on efforts to repair the sewage and water treatment plant in Gaza. [301993]
Mr. Michael Foster: There are a number of sewage treatment, wastewater re-use and seawater desalination projects in Gaza aimed at addressing the ongoing water and sanitation crisis. The UN has highlighted five key projects which are at various stages of planning and implementation: construction of the North Gaza Emergency Sewage Treatment plant, upgrading of the Sheikh Ajleen sewage treatment plant in Gaza City, construction of wastewater treatment plants in Rafah and Khan Younis and the installation of three desalination plants (in Rafah, Khan Younis and Al Bureij refugee camp).
Israeli authorities have expressed support for these projects and allowed some of the necessary materials to enter Gaza. However, implementation has been slowed due to prolonged delays in the clearance of these imports and other difficulties in the coordination process with the authorities.
Gaza: Utilities
Mr. Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent assessment he has made of levels of access to (a) clean water and (b) electricity in Gaza; and if he will make a statement. [301991]
Mr. Michael Foster:
The UN estimates the number of people not connected to the water network in Gaza is now only 10,000 out of a population of 1.5 million. But frequent power failures also mean that access to water from the network is limited to six-eight hours per day for several days as pumps in boreholes and in blocks of
flats cannot operate. In addition, it is estimated that 90-95 per cent. of the water in the aquifer, from which Gaza draws its water, is contaminated with sewage, nitrates and sea water and does not meet drinking water quality standards.
As the power station does not get enough fuel to run at full capacity, Gaza consistently experiences shortages of mains electricity leading to power cuts of four-five hours a day, four days a week for 90 per cent. of the population. In October the power station only received 65 per cent. of the 3.5 million litres of fuel needed to operate at its maximum capacity of 80 megawatts.
UN Population Fund
Chris McCafferty: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment he has made of the United Nations Population Fund performance of the Global Programme in its use of the £100 million contributed to it by his Department. [301054]
Mr. Michael Foster: The Department for International Development (DFID) has agreed to provide up to £100 million over five years to support the United Nations Population Fund's (UNFPA) Global Programme for Reproductive Health Commodity Security (GPRHCS), subject to performance. UNFPA's 2008 report did not provide adequate evidence of progress. As a result, we have held back funding scheduled for 2009. The next instalment of funding will only be released when a framework to improve reporting is in place. This will be used by all donors to GPRHCS.
Justice
C-NOMIS Database Project
Alan Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice when he expects the Government to respond to the report of the Public Accounts Committee on the C-NOMIS database project, published on 2 November 2009. [300960]
Maria Eagle: The Government response to the Public Accounts Committee report is expected to be published on 28 January 2010.
Alan Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what steps he is taking to improve the information and technology systems available to the probation service given that the C-NOMIS database will no longer be available to them. [300961]
Maria Eagle: The C-NOMIS project was replaced by the National Offender Management Information Systems programme. The programme comprises five IT-enabled business change projects, three of which will directly benefit probation.
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