§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent assessment she has made of the value for money achieved by the Resource Centre for the Social Dimensions of Business Practice core contract. [49166]
§ Clare ShortOur contract with the International Business Leaders Forum to support the Resource Centre was awarded in 1999 following a competitive tendering process. The contract will end shortly. It has contributed 25W to understanding of the role of business in poverty elimination and has also established a valuable business and poverty database.
§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development (1) what recent assessment she has made of the value for money achieved by the Mine Action Programme 2000 in the former Yugoslavia; [49188]
(2) what recent assessment she has made of the value for money achieved by the Mine Action Programme in Yugoslavia. [49196]
§ Clare ShortAll DFID's programmes in the Former Republic of Yugoslavia are subject to regular in-country monitoring by DFID's humanitarian mines adviser. We are satisfied that these programmes represent good value for money.
The Mine Action Programme for FRY Kosovo has been the subject of an independent evaluation for the UN by the PRAXIS Group Ltd., an international management consulting firm. The summary of the report concluded the mine action programme in Kosovo was a resounding success. The UK Government were also praised for responding quickly and effectively to the mines threat in Kosovo. The UK-funded part of the Kosovo programme was completed using a combination of NGO and commercial demining organisations which were selected on the basis of competency and value for money considerations. In the case of commercial organisations these were selected on a system of competitive tendering.
In Bosnia the UK contribution to demining is made through an international trust fund. The UN oversees the fund and the UK's ambassador sits on the fund's advisory board. Contracts for demining are let on the basis of competitive bidding open to both commercial organisations and NGOs.
In Croatia and Macedonia DFID made contributions to the UN system for mine clearance, awareness and support for capacity building. Contracts awarded by the UN are subject to their internal systems for competitive bidding and value for money considerations.
Programmes Countries Global UNDP: Small Arms Project: Weapons Collection, Management and Destruction Global Small Arms Survey: Research and Analysis Global International Action Network on Small Arms Regional and Global Network Development programme Global Geneva Forum meeting in preparation for the UN Conference Global Funding the participation of experts from developing countries in the UN Conference on Small Arms Global Saferworld: Programme to Stem the Proliferation of Small Arms Europe, east Africa, southern Africa, central, south and south-east Asia International Alert: Monitoring and Implementing the Small Arms Light Weapons Controls Europe, Latin America, west Africa Regional The African Conference on the Implementation of the UN Programme of Action on Small Arms: Needs and Partnerships Africa wide SaferAfrica: Arms Management and Disarmament Africa wide Latin America and Caribbean Initiatives on Illicit Trafficking in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects Latin America United Nations Regional Centre for Peace Disarmament and Development in Latin America and Caribbean: Implementing the OAS Convention Latin America