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Urban Development Projects
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will provide a breakdown of her Department's expenditure since 1998–99 on sustainable livelihoods in infrastructure and urban development projects. [67522]
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Clare Short: The Infrastructure and Urban Development department currently allocates a £3 million annual budget for specific sustainable livelihood projects in both rural and urban areas.
- 1998–99: No budget
1999–2000: £615,303
2000–01: £2,119,726
2001–02: £2,336,165
2002–03 (so far): £389,149.
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will provide a breakdown of her Department's expenditure since 1998–99 on information development as part of infrastructure and urban development projects. [67519]
Clare Short: My Department has spent £8.75 million since 1998–99 on focused programmes on 'information and communications technology for development' as part of our infrastructure and urban development work.
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will provide a breakdown of her Department's expenditure since 1998–99 on appropriate technology as part of infrastructure and urban development projects. [67517]
Clare Short: My Department's expenditure on appropriate technology as part of Infrastructure and Urban Development projects since 1998–99 has been as follows:
| £ million | |
|---|---|
| 1998–99 | 9.581 |
| 1999–2000 | 17.398 |
| 2000–01 | 9.436 |
| 2001–02 | 13.413 |
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will provide a breakdown of her Department's expenditure since 1998–99 on promoting private sector initiatives as part of infrastructure and urban development projects. [67520]
Clare Short: My Department supports a number of important initiatives aimed at promoting various aspects of private sector participation in the provision of infrastructure and urban services, particularly to the poorer sections of the developing world's population.
These are primarily undertaken in association with other bilateral and multilateral development agencies. During the period in question the Department has contributed the following:
- To the Private/Public Infrastructure Advisory Facility— £14.83 million.
To the Public/Private Partnership for the Urban Environment—£1.53 million.
To the Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund—£26.72 million.
Business Partners for Development—£1.72 million.
AID to various small activities—£1.70 million.
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Millennium Development Goals
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what the total amount was of her Department's financial contributions in 2001–02 to the Millennium Development goals. [67480]
Clare Short: DFID's total consumption of resources in 2001–02 is provisionally estimated at £3,310 million. Of this, £129 million is accounted for by overseas superannuation payments and our contribution to the Gibraltar Social Insurance Fund. The remainder, estimated at £3,181 million, contributes towards the achievement of the Millennium Development goals.
Pakistan
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what financial contribution her Department will make in 2003–04 and 2004–05 in support of Pakistan's Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility. [67482]
Clare Short: My Department has made a three-year commitment to provide £105 million, in support of the IMF Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility, which was agreed in December of last year. In 2001–02 DFID disbursed £20 million financial aid to Pakistan. We are planning to provide a further £40 million in 2002–03, and £45 million in 2003–04.
International Humanitarian Agencies
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will list the improvements in the work of international humanitarian agencies that have been assisted by financial support from her Department. [67486]
Clare Short: My Department supports improvements in various international humanitarian agencies through jointly agreed Institutional Strategy Partnerships (ISPs) with the agencies which identify long-term priorities. Focus is on developing better systems and procedures at headquarters to ensure that programmes in the field are delivered in a timely, appropriate and effective manner in the event of a crisis. All ISPs are independently evaluated. This funding is provided in addition to grants made to the international humanitarian agencies for response to specific emergencies.
Social Development Programmes
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will provide a breakdown of her Department's expenditure since 1998–99 on social development knowledge programmes. [67518]
Clare Short: The figures given in the table represent an estimate of centrally funded expenditure.
| Social development research | Social science research | |
|---|---|---|
| 1998–99 | 2.0 | 5.1 |
| 1999–2000 | 1.4 | 6.0 |
| 2000–01 | 1.7 | 6.6 |
| 2001–02 | 2.3 | 8.1 |
Social development knowledge is also generated from my Department's regional programming, and from support for enhancing research capacity in poorer countries. However, provision of this additional information would entail disproportionate cost.
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Bilateral Expenditure
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will provide a breakdown of the expenditure described as 'other bilateral' on page 81 of the Departmental report 2002. [67483]
Clare Short: A detailed breakdown of this expenditure is provided in table 4 of annex 1 of the Departmental report, on pages 102 to 105. A revised version of annex 1 of the report with corrected figures will shortly be made available on DFID's website, and a copy placed in the Library of the House of Commons.
Engineering Resource Centre
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will provide a breakdown of her Department's expenditure since 1998–99 on the engineering resource centre. [67523]
Clare Short: My Department has engaged, on a competitive basis, a number of engineering resource centres to provide specialist technical advice and expertise in the infrastructure and urban development sectors. Expenditure on the engagement of these services since 1998–99 has been as follows:
| £ million | |
|---|---|
| 1998–99 | 0.937 |
| 1999–2000 | 1.165 |
| 2000–01 | 2.007 |
| 2001–02 | 1.263 |
Overseas Offices
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will make a statement on the investment made by her Department in information systems to improve her Department's communication links with overseas offices. [67488]
Clare Short: We have an on-going programme of upgrades, the core of which is the Enhanced Overseas Communications Links (EOCL) project costing £8 million. Part of this is a system we are implementing jointly with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO).
The links include virtual private networks where sufficient bandwidth is available in country from local internet service providers, and satellite links to other countries. We are also installing internet protocol enabled switches, which allow voice communication (telephone calls) to be carried on the network. 98 per cent. of our overseas staff now have direct links to our central systems.
The links are capable of carrying video conferencing (VC) facilities and we will shortly commission a 'VC bridge', which will allow simultaneous conferences to up to eight locations.
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Social Policy Initiatives
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will provide a breakdown of her Department's expenditure since 1998–99 on Social Policy Initiatives. [67515]
Clare Short: Provision of the information requested would entail disproportionate cost.
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