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FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS
Public Appointments
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the full-time and part-time public appointments for which his Department was responsible for each of the past five years together with the salary and the date when each appointment is due for renewal.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : The most recent information available for public appointments for which the diplomatic and aid wings of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office are responsible is contained in the table. Information on appointments for each of the past five years is not readily available and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. I also refer the hon. Member to "Public Bodies", a copy of which is available in the House of Commons Library.
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Public body |Number of |Full/Part |Salary |Renewal date
|appointments |time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Government Hospitality Fund Advisory |5 |Part-time |Nil |Various dates between
Committee for the Purchase of Wine | March 1992 and
| May 1995
Imperial War Museum (Board of |2 |Part-time |Nil |1991 and 1993
Trustees)
British Council Board |2 |Part-time |Nil |Indefinite
Imperial College of Science and |1 |Part-time |Nil |Permanent
Technology (Governing Body)
Great Britain China Centre |1 |Part-time |Nil |Permanent
Great Britain East Europe Centre |1 |Part-time |Nil |Permanent
Great Britain USSR Association |1 |Part-time |Nil |Permanent Observer
| Status
Marshall Aid Commemoration |10 |Part-time |Nil |Various dates between
Commission | 1991 and 1994
Universities China Committee |1 |Part-time |Nil |Permanent
School of Oriental and African Studies |2 |Part-time |Nil |1995
(Governing Body)
Advisory Board to the Wilson Chair of |1 |Part-Time |Nil |November 1992
International Politics: University
College of Wales, Aberystwyth
Irish Pensions Appeals Tribunal |2 |Part-Time |Per diem Expenses |Permanent
Commonwealth Institute: Chairman of |1 |Part-Time |Nil |November 1992
the Scottish Committee
Commonwealth Institute: Director |1 |Full-Time |Salary by Negotiation |September 1991
General |between the public
| body and
| individuals
| concerned
Commonwealth Institute: Chairman of |1 |Part-Time |Not salaried, |January 1993
Board of Governors |incumbent paid
| honorarium
Commonwealth Institute: Vice Chairman |1 |Part-Time |Nil |May 1992
of Board of Governors
Commonwealth Institute: Member of |12 |Part-Time |Nil |Various dates between
Board of Governors | June 1991 and May
| 1994
Sightsavers |2 |Part-Time |Nil |April 1992
Commonwealth Foundation |1 |Part-time |Nil |February 1993
Diplomatic Service Appeals Boards |8 |Part-time |Per diem |Various dates between
| expenses | July 1992 and
| January 1994
Wilton Park Academic Council |18 |Part-time |Nil |Various dates between
| 1992 and 1993
Anglo-Irish Encounter |2 |Part-time |Nil |Indefinite
Lloyd Foundation |1 |Part-time |Nil |Permanent (ex officio)
Economic and Social Committee for |18 |Part-time |Nil |Various dates
Overseas Research | in 1991 and 1992
Commonwealth Scholarship Commission |15 |Part-time |Nil |Various dates
| between July 1991
| and August 1993
Bureau of Hygiene and Tropical Diseases |6 |Part-time |Nil |Indefinite
Overseas Service Pension Scheme |4 |Part-time |Per diem |Indefinite
| expenses
Indian Family Pension Scheme |8 |Part-time |Per diem |Indefinite
| expenses
Commonwealth Development |7 |Part-time |Salaries |Various dates in 1991
Corporation |by negotiation | and 1992
Crown Agents |8 |1 full-time |Salaries |Various dates in 1991
|7 part-time |by negotiation | and 1992
Institute of Development Studies |22 |Part-time |Per diem |1992
| expenses
Hospitality
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the expenditure covered by his Department's hospitality fund for the financial year (a) 1989-90, (b) 1990- 91 and (c) 1991-92 to date.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : Expenditure by both wings of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on hospitality for the financial year 1989-90 was £6,428,000. The provisional outturn for 1990-91 is £6,358,000 and the spend to date for 1991-92 is £900,000.
These figures include the grant in aid to the Government hospitality fund, which meets the costs of ministerial entertainment and guest of Government visits for all Government Departments, the cost of other official entertainment by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and diplomatic missions overseas.
Video Recordings
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the titles of the video recordings purchased by his Department during the financial year 1990-91 and 1991-92 to date.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : The following recordings were purchased, either for internal training purposes or for use by posts overseas in support of their information or commercial objectives :
Financial year 1990-91
Trooping the Colour
Bank of England
Physics Means Business
The New London
Kingdom of the Seas
You can't do it all
The Dreaded Appraisal
Can You Spare a Moment
Stress
This is Going to Hurt Me More Than it Hurts You
Budgeting
I'll be in Touch
Oh What the Hell (parts 1 and 2)
Decisions, Decisions
Where There's a Will
Speak for Yourself
CCTV Training (series of 8)
Lets be Fair
Viruses on Personal Computers
Financial year 1991-92 to date
On the Waterfront
Development through Science
Sue Lawley interviews the Prime Minister
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90 Glorious YearsEarth in Balance
The Energy Alternative
In Public in Private
An Inside Job
Britain and the European Community
Vietnamese Refugees
Mr. Foulkes : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the outcome of the discussions between the United Kingdom, United States of America and Hong Kong Governments on the Vietnamese refugees in Hong Kong.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : I refer the hon. Gentleman to the press release of 5 June entitled "Vietnamese asylum seekers", copies of which have been placed in the Library of the House.
Mr. Alton : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many Vietnamese boat people detained in the camps in Hong Kong are under the age of 18 years.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : Because of the way statistics are collected, no exact figures are readily available on the numbers of Vietnamese boat people in camps in Hong Kong under 18 years of age. However, I refer the hon. Gentleman to my reply to his question of 10 June 1991 at column 412.
Mr. Alton : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will give the amount spent on maintaining the detention centres for boat people in Hong Kong, together with the sum for providing food for detainees for the last year in which figures are available.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : From 1979 to 1991, Her Majesty's Government, the Hong Kong Government and the UNHCR spent approximately £343 million on maintaining those in the detention centres in Hong Kong. The cost of food for the financial year 1989-90 was £8.14 million.
Mr. Alton : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what estimate he has of the number of deaths of Vietnamese boat people during their journey to Hong Kong.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : Neither the Hong Kong Government nor UNHCR has any reliable estimate of the number of Vietnamese migrants who have died travelling to Hong Kong.
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Mr. Alton : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs which voluntary agencies run education programmes in detention centres in Hong Kong.Mr. Lennox-Boyd : Save the Children, International Social Service and Caritas.
Mr. Alton : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many well baby clinics are operated in Hong Kong detention centres ; and by which agencies.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : Each of the 10 detention centres has a well baby clinic, operated by Save the Children and Medecins Sans Frontieres.
Mr. Alton : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the criteria used for determining political refugee status in the screening process used for Vietnamese boat people in Hong Kong.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : The criterion used is that contained in the 1951 United Nations convention and the 1967 protocol relating to the status of refugees which states that a person is a refugee if he has a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion and who, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of his country of nationality.
Screening procedures in Hong Kong were evolved in co-operation with UNHCR which monitors their application.
Mr. Alton : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has made to China regarding the treatment of boat people travelling to Hong Kong.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : We have on a number of occasions asked the Chinese Government to treat all undocumented Vietnamese found illegally in China in accordance with the comprehensive plan of action.
Hong Kong
Mr. Winnick : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will call for a report on why Lee Bun and her husband were refused asylum in Hong Kong ; and what information he has over their fate after they had returned to China.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : The Hong Kong Government have informed us that Li Bin and her husband, Li Qing-Ming, entered Hong Kong illegally on 2 September 1989. They did not seek asylum. They first came into contact with the Hong Kong authorities on 6 December when they were arrested, trying to buy forged Thai passports. They had in their possession US$77,000 and HK$28,000 in cash. The couple subsequently claimed that they had been involved in the political protests in China from April to June 1989 and feared that they would be persecuted if returned to China. This claim was carefully examined by Hong Kong Government officials.
As stated in court it appeared that there were material shortcomings and suspected fabrications in their account, particularly in Mr. Li's account of his alleged medical qualifications and experience, the couple's alleged involvement in the student movement and protests, and
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their failure to account adequately for the large sums of money in their possession. The Lis went through the whole legal appeals procedure in Hong Kong and following the dismissal of the couple's case by the immigration tribunal, the High Court and the Court of Appeal, they returned voluntarily to China in July 1990.We have no information on the couple after their return to China. The Hong Kong Government have asked the Chinese authorities for information on them.
Mr. Alton : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is the policy of his Department on repatriation of orphaned children.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : The policy agreed with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is that no child will be repatriated to Vietnam unless he/she has a family to return to.
Mr. Alton : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many returnees have been contacted by the British embassy in Hanoi.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : The British embassy in Hanoi makes regular visits to areas where significant numbers of migrants have returned from Hong Kong but does not maintain precise details of numbers of returnees seen. Since December 1989, 11 such visits have been made. Many of the 51 returnees sent back on 12 December 1989 have been contacted more than once.
Soviet Research Vessels
Mr. O'Neill : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what general information he has on the technical capabilities of the Soviet research vessel Akademik Boris Petrov in British waters.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : We understand that this vessel is equipped for the detection of radioactivity levels.
Mr. O'Neill : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what security considerations apply to visits by Soviet research vessels to British waters.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : Each application is considered on its merits in relation to the proposed programme of research and the nature of our security interests in the area concerned.
Mr. O'Neill : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what consultations he has had with his Soviet counterpart regarding the visit of the Soviet research vessel Akademik Boris Petrov to British waters. Mr. Lennox-Boyd : None. An application was received from the Soviet embassy and dealt with by this Department in the normal way.
DEFENCE
Low Flying
Mr. McGrady : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans he has to carry out a review of the high incidence of low-flying helicopter activity in the constituency of South Down.
Mr. Kenneth Carlisle : There are currently no plans to carry out a review of low-flying helicopter activity in the
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South Down area. Flights by military helicopters are carried out for operational reasons, in order to support the RUC in the fight against terrorism. Helicopters are an essential element of the security forces' effort to counter the terrorist threat, which in South Down resulted in the murder of seven soldiers between 1989 and 1990. Helicopters may need to fly low for operational or weather reasons. I regret the inconvenience that this may cause some of the hon. Member's constituents but I can assure him that the amount of flying is kept to a minimum consistent with operational needs.Military Contracts
Mrs. Dunwoody : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what was the deciding factor in awarding the contract to Steyr of Austria for small arms ;
(2) if he will list the weapons included in the contract awarded by his Department to the Steyr company of Austria.
Mr. Alan Clark : The MOD has no current contract with Steyr of Austria for the supply of small arms.
Mrs. Dunwoody : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the percentage of British military contracts awarded to foreign companies in 1990-91 and 1991-92.
Mr. Alan Clark : The percentage by value of contracts placed with companies located overseas during 1990-91 was approximately 6 per cent. These figures exclude expenditure related to collaborative projects and contracts placed locally overseas. Figures for 1991-92 are not yet available.
International Military Service
Mr. Rogers : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what discussions he has had with British Aerospace about the future of IMS.
International Signal Corporation
Mr. O'Neill : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what information his Department provided to the management of Ferranti plc relating to the activities of International Signal Corporation prior to its acquisition by Ferranti plc.
Mr. Alan Clark : The Ministry of Defence was informed of the impending acquisition which was a matter for the commercial judgment of the companies involved.
Mr. O'Neill : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what information his Department provided to the management of Ferranti plc relating to the activities of International Signal Corporation after its acquisition by Ferranti plc.
Mr. Alan Clark : MOD officials had communication with the then chairman and chief executive of Ferranti
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from the summer of 1988. The nature of the communications are confidential to the Department and the company.Mr. O'Neill : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what communications he had with his United States counterpart relating to the activities of International Signal Corporation prior to its acquisition by Ferranti plc.
Mr. O'Neill : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what communications he had with his United States counterpart relating to the activities of International Signal Corporation after its acquisition by Ferranti plc.
Army Manpower
Mr. O'Neill : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will provide the latest available figures on the total numbers of regular service personnel in each of the different ranks of the British Army.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : The latest available figures, as at 31 March 1991, for the strength of the regular Army by rank are set out in the table.
Army
Ranks strengths
|Number
-----------------------------------------------
Officers
Lieutenant General and above |20
Major General |62
Brigadier |240
Colonel |649
Lieutenant Colonel |1,949
Major |5,330
Captain |5,220
Subalterns<1> |3,410
Officer Designate |629
|-------
Total Officers |17,509
Soldiers
Warrant Officer I |2,272
Warrant Officer II |5,963
Staff Sergeant |7,970
Sergeant |14,750
Corporal |22,588
Lance Corporal |23,120
Private<1> |48,463
Junior Soldiers |5,004
|-------
Total Soldiers |130,130
Total Officers and Soldiers |147,639
<1> Includes basic trainees; excludes Brigade
of Gurkhas.
Mr. O'Neill : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what has been the average rate of recruitment and outflow in (a) the armoured regiments and (b) the infantry regiments in the last 10 years.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : The average rate of recruitment and outflow is set out in the table :
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Officers
Recruits Outflow
|Average per|Rate |Average per|Rate
|year |year
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Household Cavalry |13 |9.1 |15 |10.5
Royal Armoured Corps |80 |7.1 |99 |8.7
Infantry |202 |6.3 |251 |7.8
1. Rate is per 100 trained officers.
2. Infantry figures exclude Parachute Regiment.
3. Excludes intakes from other ranks.
Soldiers
Recruits Outflow
Average per year Rate Average per year Rate
Household Cavalry 174 11.7 212 14.2
Royal Armoured Corps 961 11.1 1,034 11.9
Infantry 5,447 15.2 6,136 17.1
1. Recruits exclude rejoined reservists.
2. Rate is per 100 soldiers and juniors.
3. Infantry figures exclude Parachute Regiment.
Mr. O'Neill : To ask the Secretary of State for defence what has been the average rate of recruitment and outflow in (a) the Household Cavalry, (b) the Royal Armoured Corps, (c) the Guards Division, (d) the Scottish Division,
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