§ Harry CohenTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development what projects his Department is supporting to(a) measure poverty in Russia and (b) promote public access to the data; and if he will make a statement. [133278]
Mr. Gareth ThomasDFID is supporting two projects to measure poverty in Russia and promote public access to data
(a)"Poverty statistics and monitoring" project in partnership with the World Bank, the Russian Ministry of Labour and Social Development and State Statistics Committee. The project purpose is to establish an improved information base and analysis for policy makers. The overall budget is £1.5 million over the period from April 2002 to December 2005.(b)"Review of poverty issues in Russia" project implemented by London School of Economics. The overall budget is £90,000 for four years (February 2002 to February 2005). The project purpose is to inform the Russia programme on poverty measurements with particular respect to two oblasts, Leningrad and Nizhniy Novgorod, where DFID is supporting partnership programmes.Both projects pursue the following goals:
To develop improved poverty measurement methodology for Russia, based on international experience;To identify a system of indicators for on-line poverty monitoring and poverty level forecast and establish a poverty monitoring system;To provide open access for external users to the State Statistics Committee's Household Budgeting Survey data;To prepare poverty reduction recommendations in the form of an official report containing a detailed analysis of poverty level, profile, sources and socioeconomic policy efficiency.Understanding the extent and depth of poverty in Russia and monitoring its trend is a key part of DFID's Russia Programme and the Government of Russia's long-term social-economic modernization plan (the Gref plan). Current estimates of the number of poor people in Russia vary widely from 20 per cent. to 40 per cent. of population, depending on the source of data, the methodology used and the definition of poverty. Accurate data and proper poverty analysis will help the Government of Russia to target resources to poor people more efficiently.
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