| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
3 Dec 2009 : Column 919W—continued
Developing Countries: HIV Infection
Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps his Department is taking to combat the spread of HIV-TB co-infection in developing countries. [303541]
Mr. Michael Foster: "Achieving Universal Access", the UK's strategy for halting and reversing the spread of HIV in the developing world, published in June 2008, acknowledges the need for stronger integration between HIV and TB services. It recognises that investment in well functioning, comprehensive, sustainable and robust health systems and services is the way to address the interaction between HIV and other diseases. The strategy included a commitment to spend £6 billion to strengthen health systems and services including:
"to improve rates of TB diagnosis among people living with AIDS-and HIV diagnosis among people with TB".
In addition the UK Government have made:
a long term commitment of £1 billion (2007 to 2015) to the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, which also works to promote the linkages and interaction between AIDS, TB and malaria.
a 20-year, £790 million commitment, subject to performance, to the international drugs purchase facility UNITAID (2006 to 2026), which is helping to increase access to and affordability of HIV and TB drugs and diagnostics.
The Department for International Development (DFID) is also working with international partners to support countries to reach health worker targets. This will help build the capacity of health systems to manage HIV and TB co-infection issues.
Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps his Department is taking to increase levels of access to antiretroviral treatments in developing countries. [303986]
Mr. Michael Foster: Since Gleneagles in 2005, the UK has led the push for Universal Access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support and has committed to spend £6 billion on health systems and services up to 2015. The Department for International Development (DFID) is also committed to working with others to reduce drug prices and increase access to more affordable and sustainable treatment over the long term. This could yield cost efficiency savings of at least £50 million per annum, enough to fund medicines for an additional 1 million people every year.
In 2007 DFID made an unprecedented long term commitment of up to £1 billion to 2015 to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS TB and Malaria (GFATM), one of the key providers of AIDS drugs. We are also contributing £790 million over 20 years, subject to performance, to UNITAID, the International Drug Purchase Facility. UNITAID helps increase access to treatment by lowering the price of quality drugs and diagnostics, and by increasing the pace at which they are made available.
We continue to lobby our partners to live up to their commitments as well.
Developing Countries: Infant Mortality
Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what his most recent estimate is of the number and proportion of infants in each developing country who die of preventable causes before their fifth birthday. [303538]
Mr. Michael Foster: The most recent UN estimates of the number of infants who died from preventable causes before reaching the age of five were published in The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) "State of the World's Children" 2009 report. The full report can be accessed via the UNICEF website. This report estimated that 9.2 million children under five died of preventable causes in 2007. The main causes of these deaths were as follows;
Sepsis/pneumonia (26 per cent.)
Tetanus (7 per cent.)
Diarrhoea (3 per cent.)
Preterm (27 per cent.)
Asphyxia (23 per cent.)
Congenital (7 per cent.)
Other (7 per cent.)
However, recent data published online in the Lancet on 10 September 2009 from 'Levels and trends in under-five mortality, 1990 to 2008' estimate that this figure has decreased to 8.8 million in 2008.
Developing Countries: Tuberculosis
Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what direct funding his Department is providing for national tuberculosis programmes in high-burden countries; and what timetable for the delivery of such funding has been agreed with each recipient country. [303540]
Mr. Michael Foster: Our main focus to combat tuberculosis (TB) remains the delivery of the Global Plan to Stop TB 2006 to 2015, which aims to save 14 million lives. The Department for International Development (DFID) contributes to this through a variety of channels including specific bilateral projects, research grants, multilateral and partnerships support, like UNITAID (the international drug purchasing facility) and the Stop TB Partnership, and increasingly through broader health sector plans. The timetable of the delivery of funding differs according to the channels used.
DFID also committed to a number of national TB programmes in high burden countries including South Africa, Nigeria and Zimbabwe where we support the purchase of TB drugs and other commodities. Our support in India is helping treat 6.3 million patients and has saved over 1 million lives since 1997. In China, DFID works in partnership with the World Bank and World Health Organisation (WHO) to provide a £28 million grant supporting China's National TB Control programme in 16 provinces. DFID has an unprecedented commitment of up to £1 billion to the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria (GFATM) for 2008 to 2015. The GFATM estimates that it has supported the additional detection and treatment of 5.4 million people with TB.
Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria
Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps his Department takes to ensure effective co-operation between its own aid delivery and that from the Global Fund in countries where both provide aid. [303536]
Mr. Thomas: The Global Fund does not have staff based in the countries it supports and instead relies on local structures, including a Country Co-ordinating Mechanism (CCM). CCMs comprise representatives from the public and private sectors as well as people living with the HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis or malaria. The Department for International Development's (DFID) staff are members of CCMs in many countries and there is a high degree of co-operation between DFID and the Global Fund. An example of this co-operation is the way DFID contributed to purchase essential drugs pending Global Fund financing. This has avoided stocks of these drugs from running out in these instances.
Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent discussions he has had with his counterparts in other donor countries on meeting commitments to the Global Fund to fight HIV, tuberculosis and malaria; and what steps his Department is taking on this matter. [303542]
Mr. Thomas: The Secretary of State has had no such recent discussions, though UK officials are in regular contact with other donors about Global Fund financing. For example, at the recent Global Fund Executive Board meeting in Ethiopia, UK and several other board members argued strongly in favour of urgent work on several fundamental issues, to respond to the fact that demand from countries for support is likely to outstrip supply of financing for the foreseeable future.
Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment he has made of the effect of trends in (a) donor funding and (b) demand by high-burden countries on the future of the Global Fund to fight HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. [303543]
Mr. Thomas: High quality demand from countries has increased dramatically over the last few years, and is outstripping the supply of funds available. This trend is likely to continue. Interim measures were taken so that all of the proposals received in 2008 and 2009 and recommended by the Independent Technical Review Panel could be supported.
We will continue to work with other donor countries and the Global Fund secretariat to develop new coherent policies that help the fund to address this likely trend in a more systematic way.
KBR
Sir Menzies Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development whether his Department has entered into any contracts with Kellogg, Brown and Root or its subsidiaries since January 2009. [303337]
Mr. Douglas Alexander: The Department for International Development (DFID) has not entered into any contracts with Kellogg, Brown and Root or its subsidiaries since January 2009.
Maternal Mortality
Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what estimate he has made of the number and proportion of mothers who died in childbirth of preventable causes in each country for which his Department holds data in the last 12 months. [303539]
Mr. Michael Foster: The Department for International Development (DFID) does not collect this information itself, but relies on United Nations (UN) estimates. UN estimates are available on the World Health Organisation's Making Pregnancy Safer website and date from 2005;
Olympic Games 2012
Mr. Andrew Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how he plans to (a) measure and (b) evaluate the effectiveness of money spent by his Department through the London Olympics International Inspiration 2012 Programme. [303382]
Mr. Douglas Alexander: The monitoring and evaluation built into International Inspiration Programme draws upon the systems of the in-country implementing partners, British Council and UNICEF and is overseen by the new International Inspiration Foundation.
The Department for International Development (DFID) was also involved in designing the independent external evaluation of phase 1 of the programme covering Brazil, India, Palau, Zambia and Azerbaijan.
Scientists
Adam Afriyie: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development on how many occasions he has met (a) the Government Chief Scientific Adviser and (b) his Department's Chief Scientific Adviser in the course of his official duties in the last 12 months. [303967]
Mr. Douglas Alexander: I have not held any meetings with the Government's Chief Scientific Adviser and have met with the Department's Chief Scientific Adviser once in the last 12 months in the course of my official duties.
The Under-Secretary of State for International Development regularly attends meetings where the Government Chief Scientific Adviser and the Department's Chief Scientific Adviser are also present.
Energy and Climate Change
Carbon Emissions
Mr. Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change when he last discussed the Standard Assessment Procedure grid carbon dioxide methodology with officials in his Department; and whether that methodology has been formulated to achieve the planned de-carbonisation of the grid. [303320]
Joan Ruddock: The Department issued a public consultation earlier this year on proposed changes to the standard assessment procedure grid carbon dioxide methodology. We are currently analysing all responses received to the consultation and I will publish the responses to the consultation in due course.
The standard assessment procedure is a carbon compliance tool and is used to calculate carbon emissions from the fabric and technologies in buildings to ensure compliance with building regulations and the code for sustainable homes. As a result the standard assessment procedure is not designed to de-carbonise the grid for which my Department has put in place many policies as set out in the low carbon transition plan earlier this year.
Climate Change
Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what agreements were made at the IMF/World Bank annual meeting in Istanbul on energy and climate change-related matters. [304466]
Joan Ruddock: There were no specific commitments agreed for which my Department will be responsible. The IMF-World Bank communiqué reiterated support for the World Bank Group's efforts to tackle long-term development challenges, including climate change, in line with its comparative advantage. We welcome the engagement of all international financial institutions in addressing the challenge and opportunity of low carbon climate resilient growth, and encourage them to make their existing investments climate-smart.
Departmental Legislation
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what criminal offences have been (a) abolished and (b) created by primary legislation sponsored by his Department since 1 May 2008. [303249]
Joan Ruddock: The information is as follows:
(a) Criminal offences abolished since 1 May 2008
Schedule 6 to the Energy Act 2008 repealed section 107(7) of the Energy Act 2004 (offences relating to the decommissioning of offshore renewable energy installations).
(b) Criminal offences created since 1 May 2008
Section 8-offence of carrying out unlicensed activities relating to the importation and storage of combustible gas; Section 9-offences relating to combustible gas licences;
Section 11-offence of failing to comply with a direction issued by the Secretary of State to a combustible gas licence holder in relation to the terms of their licence;
Section 22-offence of carrying out unlicensed activities relating to the storage of carbon dioxide;
Section 23-offences relating to carbon dioxide storage licences;
Section 25-offence of failing to comply with a direction issued by the licensing authority to a carbon dioxide storage licence holder to take steps where the licence holder has failed to comply with the terms of its licence;
Section 47-offence of using or permitting another person to use a site before a decommissioning programme has been submitted and approved;
Section 57-offence of failing to comply with an obligation imposed under an approved funded nuclear decommissioning programme;
Section 59-offence of disclosing information obtained by virtue of a notice issued by the Secretary of State relating to nuclear decommissioning;
Section 60-offence of supplying false information in relation to the decommissioning or clean-up of nuclear sites;
Section 71 (inserts a new 112A into the Energy Act 2004)-offences relating to the failure to provide, and unlawful disclosure of, information relating to decommissioning of offshore renewable energy installations;
Section 73 (inserts a new section 38(6) into the Petroleum Act 1998)-offences relating to the unlawful disclosure of information relating to decommissioning of offshore oil and gas installations;
Section 75 (inserts a new section 45A into the Petroleum Act 1998)-offences relating to the provision of information and of financial security in respect of a well drilled in pursuance of a petroleum or gas storage licence;
Section 76 (inserts new section 5B into the Petroleum Act 1998)-offence relating to the disclosure of information supplied to the Secretary of State by HMRC about the transfer of rights granted by a petroleum licence other than for authorised purposes;
Section 79 (inserts a new section 10H into the Pipelines Act 1962)-offence of contravening a pipeline modification notice requiring an increase in the capacity of an upstream petroleum pipeline or the connection of an additional pipeline.
Paragraph 5 of Schedule 4-offence of failing to provide information, or providing false or misleading information, required for the purpose of establishing a trading scheme relating to greenhouse gas emissions.
Paragraph 2 of Schedule 5 (inserts new Schedule 2AA into the Environmental Protection Act 1990)-offence of obstructing any person from inspecting or making copies of an account detailing rebates and payments to and charges received under a waste reduction scheme.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |