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UK Democratic and Governmental Structures
(Council of Europe Study)
Mr. Canavan: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will publish the results of the examination of the United Kingdom's democratic and Governmental structures which was carried out by the Council of Europe from June 1996 onwards. [65326]
Mr. Tony Lloyd: The Secretary General's overview of the functioning and protection of democratic institutions in all Council of Europe member states remains before the Committee of Ministers which will resume its discussions at its next monitoring meeting in March 1999.
The conclusions of the Committee of Ministers will be made public when available.
Defence Contracts (Malaysia)
Mr. Campbell-Savours: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the officials in his Department who met Mr. Stephen Kock to discuss matters relating to defence contracts with Malaysia in the period from January 1985 to the end of December 1988. [65145]
Mr. Fatchett: We have not been able to find any reference in our files to meetings between Mr. Kock and members of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office during this period.
Butler Report
Mr. Dalyell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with the French Foreign Minister about the latter's statement concerning the Butler report. [65391]
Mr. Fatchett: My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary met the French Foreign Minister in Paris on 8 January 1999 and had a full discussion on all aspects of Iraq policy.
Saudi Arabia and Kuwait (Democracy)
Mr. Dalyell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps he is taking to promote democracy in (a) Saudi Arabia and (b) Kuwait. [65474]
Mr. Fatchett: We seek to encourage constitutional development and greater participatory government in both Saudi Arabia and Kuwait through a variety of means, including official and parliamentary contacts, ministerial visits and informal dialogue on democratic issues.
Chechnya
Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what was discussed at the meeting which took place between Foreign Office officials and Granger Telecom personnel in August 1998. [66111]
Mr. Tony Lloyd:
Foreign Office officials dealing with the kidnap of Jon James and Camilla Carr in the Russian Republic of Chechnya met two Weybridge-based Granger Telecom managers at FCO request on 21 August 1998. The Carr/James kidnap was then into its 13th month.
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Officials explained that their lengthy capacity illustrated the dangers of operating in Chechnya and asked if Granger had any information which might help to secure the release of Carr and James, given that the UK has no diplomatic representations in Chechnya. The answer was no. Granger described the terms and funding of their contract with a Chechen private company, ChechenTelecom, to establish a telecommunications infrastructure in Chechnya, and said that ChechenTelecom assumed full responsibility for the security of Granger expatriate staff in Grozny. FCO officials said that HM Government could not encourage UK humanitarian assistance or investment in Chechnya.
At the meeting FCO officials showed to Granger the FCO travel advice of 18 August 1998, which states:
Mr. Howard:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assistance was given to the United Kingdom High Commissioner to Sierra Leone resident in Conakry between May 1997 and April 1998 by (a) EU embassies and (b) non-EU embassies; what messages were sent by the United Kingdom High Commissioner to Sierra Leone resident in Conakry between May 1997 and April 1998 to London via the German embassy in Conakry; and for what reason no confidential bag service was available to the UK High Commissioner to Sierra Leone resident in Conakry between May 1997 and April 1998. [66384]
Mr. Tony Lloyd:
The German Embassy in Conakry provided limited communication and logistical support to Mr. Penfold whilst he was in Conakry. Other EU embassies and non EU embassies did not provide special assistance. Mr. Penfold received a number of classified telegrams via the German Embassy but used commercial fax facilities for sending messages to London. Mr. Penfold was operating on a temporary basis and in hotel accommodation and arrangements were made for a commercial courier service limited to non-classified material.
Dr. Marek:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will give permission to Horst Timmreck to visit St. Helena to reclaim his property. [65791]
Mr. Fatchett:
Mr. Horst Timmreck is subject to a St. Helenian exclusion order, the revocation or variation of which is the responsibility of the Governor of St. Helena. Any application by Mr. Timmreck for a visit to St. Helena under a variation of the exclusion order should be made to the Governor.
Dr. Marek:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what plans he has for the introduction of access to the Internet at reasonable cost by citizens of St. Helena. [65789]
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Mr. Tony Lloyd:
St. Helena's telecommunications are provided by Cable and Wireless plc. Internet access is currently available, on a temporary basis, through Ascension Island. Cable and Wireless has recently removed its standing charge for such access. It plans to install an Internet server on St. Helena in 1999 and will review its charges when this becomes operational.
Dr. Marek:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what plans he has for diplomatic representation by Her Majesty's Government in Vanuatu. [65792]
Mr. Fatchett:
Her Majesty's Government will continue to be represented. We are at present looking at the form this representation will take in the future.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment (1) what the budget is for the Millennium Volunteer Scheme; how much has been spent to date broken down into (a) volunteer schemes and (b) administration; [65238]
Ms Hodge:
Millennium Volunteers will have a total of £15 million allocated to it from the windfall levy as start up funding in Great Britain, of which £12.75 million is available in England. £303,935 has been spent on the Programme to date in England, of which £109,870 relates to projects and related expenditure and £194,065 relates to administration. I hope to be making a further announcement about Millennium Volunteers and the longer term funding of the programme in England shortly.
A total of 269 volunteers have taken part in the nine Millennium Volunteers demonstration projects we established last summer. Of these, 168 were female and 101 male; 226 were white and 43 were from black or Asian ethnic groups. We will be evaluating the benefits to the community and to the individual volunteers of Millennium Volunteers but it is too early to provide such an assessment at present.
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will make a statement on the Government's plans to monitor the impact of the new student funding system on recruitment to higher education institutions of students studying engineering. [65294]
Mr. Mudie:
Initial evidence shows that there is a small decrease of 1.7 per cent. in the total number of people accepted to higher education. This is made up of an increase in school and college leavers and a decrease in mature students.
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Although the Department has no mechanisms in place to monitor specific subject areas, it has in place a programme of evaluation work to assess the impact of the new funding arrangements on participation in higher education by different types of student, examining for instance the social background, ethnic group, disability, age and gender of students and subject of study, which will include engineering. This work will draw on data produced by the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) and the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA). In addition, we are commissioning an update of the Student Income and Expenditure Survey which will provide information about the impact of the new arrangements on student finances.
The key results of our monitoring and research will be published and available to Parliament.
"We strongly advise against travel to the Chechen Republic, Ingushetia, Dagestan, North Ossetia and the Stravropol/Chechnya border, because of the unstable security situation. Visitors have been kidnapped in these areas recently".
(2) how many volunteers have taken part in the Millennium Volunteer Scheme to date; if he will publish a breakdown of volunteers by (a) gender and (b) ethnic group; and if he will make a statement on the number of people helped by the scheme. [65239]
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