To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many of his Department's staff are in each province of (a) Afghanistan and (b) Iraq; and what functions they are carrying out in each case.

For security reasons, we do not disclose the number of staff we have working in Afghanistan and Iraq.

DFID's role in Afghanistan supports three of the Afghan Government's own objectives as set out in their national development strategy (ANDS): building effective state institutions, improving economic management and the effectiveness of aid, and improving the livelihoods of rural people. In Helmand, DFID oversees agriculture, infrastructure and microfinance projects, and gives advice on development to the provincial reconstruction team.

DFID's role in Iraq is to support the Government in unlocking their own human and financial resources. To this end, staff in Baghdad oversee three main programmes: economic reform, developing the machinery of government and donor co-ordination of humanitarian relief efforts. The DFID representative in Basra oversees DFID's power and water projects, and economic and governance work through the UK-led provincial reconstruction team.