§ Lord Aveburyasked Her Majesty's Government:
What action they have taken on the findings in the report Targeting Basic Assistance in Northern Iraq; Findings from a Household Expenditure Survey, which they commissioned, and in particular on the fall in living standards suffered by the population as a whole, and the chronic energy deficiency shown by 12 per cent. of the female population.
§ Baroness Chalker of WallaseyWe received the report in September. Since then we have agreed to provide £365,000 to Save the Children Fund for a further village rehabilitation project, which includes special measures for assisting female-headed households, and for a pilot income-generation project for very poor urban households, many of which are headed by women. We have distributed the report widely to other aid agencies, in particular the UN agencies, who have welcomed it as a basis for targeting food aid and other assistance.