To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what his Department's timetable is for its implementation plan to take forward the OECD Development Assistance Committee Principles; and what estimate he has made of the cost to his Department of fulfiling its commitments under the plan; and how much it will cost to fulfil the plan. (220386)

The UK attaches great importance to the work of the OECD Development Assistance Committee in developing best practice guidance for donors whether in the form of principles, guidelines or policy statements. Where appropriate we will continue to work with others to ensure such guidance is associated with clear commitments and targets for its implementation.

For example, the Paris principles (partner country ownership, alignment, harmonisation, managing for results and mutual accountability) provide an organising framework for the commitments set out in the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness. The international community agreed 12 targets to monitor the implementation of these commitments, and most recently reviewed progress in doing so at the Third High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness held in Accra on 2-4 September. The Accra Agenda for Action, which resulted from that meeting, represents an important further means to accelerate progress towards the Paris Declaration targets set for 2010.

UK delivery of the Paris Declaration commitments and targets now forms part of the Department for International Development's (DFID) Departmental Strategic Objectives rather than of a separate action plan. There are therefore no costs associated with fulfilling a separate plan. Our progress in meeting our Paris Declaration commitments and targets is subject to DFID's normal management and reporting mechanisms.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what programmes his Department has initiated to increase opportunities for individuals in the UK to assist developing countries in the last three years. (220454)

The Department for International Development (DFID) has initiated two programmes to increase opportunities for individuals in the UK to assist developing countries in the last three years.

In February 2008, DFID launched a youth volunteering programme, called Platform2. This aims both to increase awareness of development issues among young people in the UK (with a focus on less advantaged youth), and to enable young people to contribute meaningfully to community led overseas development projects. The programme aims to involve a minimum of 2,500 young people over three years. Since the launch, 170 UK volunteers have completed (or are currently participating) in the programme in Ghana, South Africa, Peru, India, Malawi and Nepal.

In July 2008 DFID launched the Diaspora Volunteering scheme to fund volunteers from UK Diaspora communities to use their skills and experience to help development in poor countries. It aims to send at least 600 volunteers to developing countries over three years. The first volunteers have started working in India, Nepal and Cameroon.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development pursuant to the answer of 19 June 2008, Official Report, column 1182W, on overseas aid, to what other programmes funds not disbursed to partner governments were allocated. (223678)

A final breakdown of Department for International Development (DFID) expenditure for 2007-08 was published on 2 October 2008 in the publication “Statistics on International Development 2007-08”. This publication is available on the DFID website

www.dfid.gov.uk.