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FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS
Sierra Leone
Sir John Stanley: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if discussions on possible questions were held between a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee and (a) himself, (b) his other departmental Ministers, (c) his departmental parliamentary private secretaries, (d) his civil servants or (e) his departmental special advisers prior to his evidence sessions with the Committee in the course of its Sierra Leone inquiry. [76083]
Mr. Robin Cook [holding answer 11 March 1999]: No.
Special Advisers
Mr. Tyrie:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the total number
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of occasions when (a) departmental and (b) non- departmental special advisers have travelled abroad in an official capacity since 2 May 1997. [76829]
Mr. Robin Cook:
Between 2 May 1997 and 28 February 1999, my special advisers have made visits overseas on 28 occasions in an official capacity. All travel complied with the requirements of the Ministerial Code and the Civil Service Management Code.
Mr. Bercow:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if budget line A-3021 of the European Communities budget is open to organisations which advance the idea of a non-federal Europe. [80159]
Ms Quin:
The Official Journal of the European Communities describes Budget line A-3021 as providing grants to organisations advancing the idea of Europe, in particular those working actively for European integration. There is no reference to the promotion of federalism in Europe.
Mr. Bercow:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will place in the Library a copy of the speeches delivered at the Seminaire Franco-Britannique sur l'Euro by representatives of the British Government. [80158]
Ms Quin:
We are arranging to have copies placed in the Libraries of the House.
Mr. Bercow:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what progress has been made in Franco-British co-operation since the signing of the St. Malo Accord. [80148]
Ms Quin:
The St. Malo Summit identified a broad variety of areas for enhanced Franco-British co-operation: European defence, crisis management, common foreign and security policy, Africa, EU institutions, integrated transport issues, duty free, the entrepreneurship taskforce, the millennium bug, the Franco-British electronic village, dialogue 2000, Paris-London 2000, the audio-visual working group, and this year's British-French summit. The pace of progress will differ from subject to subject, but the summit gave considerable impetus to a closer relationship, and work is ongoing in these and other areas to ensure that there is the closest bilateral engagement.
In some aspects this has already yielded concrete progress--for example, the proposed joint Foreign Ministers' visit and Heads of Mission Conference in Africa took place in February and proved the effectiveness of such shared contacts on African issues. There have been very productive bilateral meetings between Ministers, including myself and M. Moscovici, my French counterpart, on 14 January, as well as between senior officials, and more are planned for the near future, for example, meetings between the Ministers of Tourism.
Mr. Ben Chapman:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent
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representations he has made to the Government of Chile about the prospective removal of the Lan Chile air link to the Falklands. [80216]
Mr. Tony Lloyd:
We expressed our regret to the Chilean Government over their decision last December to ask Chilean carriers not to fly to the Falklands and said that we did not believe this to be justified. When we became aware recently that the Chilean Government were considering publishing a decree prohibiting Chilean carriers from flying to the Falklands, we told them that we would strongly regret such a measure. We are very disappointed that they have nevertheless published such a decree. Lan Chile have not been able to fly to the Islands since their contract with the Falkland Islands Development Corporation expired on 31 March. While we hope that they will be allowed to resume the flights, other options are under consideration. We are in close touch with the Falkland Islands Government on this.
Mr. Lilley:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list decision-making powers which have been restored to the United Kingdom from EU institutions since the Maastricht Treaty came into effect. [80234]
Ms Quin:
The issue of repatriation of powers from the EU to Member States was not on the agenda for either the Maastricht or Amsterdam IGCs.
The Maastricht Treaty, however, introduced the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality into EC law, both of which were given further effect by the Protocol agreed at Amsterdam. The principle of subsidiarity aims to ensure that decisions are taken at the most appropriate level in areas of shared competence between the EC and Member States. Its application is one way of ensuring that decisions are taken as close to the citizen as possible.
Mr. Maclean:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs for how many written parliamentary questions he has referred the interrogator to a previous answer since 1 May 1997; and if he will break this down by subject area. [80451]
Mr. Robin Cook:
The information requested is not kept centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate diversion of staff time.
Mr. Mitchell:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list each of the new responsibilities which he will assume when the signed Treaty of Amsterdam takes effect and for each (a) the likely effect on departmental staffing, (b) the bodies or persons in the European Union principally concerned and (c) the relevant section of that treaty and the consolidated treaties of the European Union and European Community. [80416]
Ms Quin:
I do not expect implementation of the Treaty of Amsterdam to add significantly to my Department's responsibilities.
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Rev. Martin Smyth:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has made to the President of Peru on the release of prisoners found innocent by the Ad Hoc Commission. [80080]
Mr. Tony Lloyd:
We have made no representations personally to President Fujimori. However, during my visit to Peru in January, I discussed the issue with both the Technical Adviser to the Ad Hoc Commission, Dr. Gina Costa, and the Human Rights Ombudsman, Jorge Santistevan. During 1998, the Commission continued to recommend presidential pardons for applicants, and won the release of an additional 102 detainees, bringing the total of those pardoned to 462.
The British Embassy in Lima has raised this issue with the Ad Hoc Commission. We also intend to discuss this, and other human rights issues, with the Peruvian delegation in Geneva, in the margins of the Commission on Human Rights (22 March-30 April).
Mrs. Gillan:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions took place on the issue of brokering in the meeting of the Council of Ministers COARM working group on 18 March; and what position was taken by the United Kingdom representative. [81103]
Mr. Tony Lloyd
[holding answer 16 April 1999]: There was no substantive discussion of the issue of controls on arms trafficking and brokering at COARM on 18 March.
We have already told EU partners that the UK welcomes the initiative taken by the German Presidency to discuss within the EU the question of uniform national controls on arms trafficking and brokering, and intends to participate constructively in the debate. We have also drawn the attention of EU partners to the proposals for national controls on trafficking and brokering as set out in the White Paper on Strategic Export Controls presented to Parliament by the President of the Board of Trade in July 1998 (Cm 3989), which differ in a number of respects from the initial Presidency proposals.
Mr. Efford:
To ask the hon. Member for Middlesbrough (Mr. Bell), representing the Church Commissioners, what assessment he has made of the implications for the Commissioners of the Macpherson inquiry recommendations; and if he will make a statement. [80536]
Mr. Stuart Bell:
Ensuring equal opportunity and the demonstration of fairness in all aspects of conduct within the Commissioners' office is something the Commissioners and indeed all the other central Church institutions take extremely seriously.
The Commissioners have followed equal opportunity practice in their recruitment and promotion procedures for many years and equal opportunities training for those
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operating these areas has been provided. Human resources departments across the national Church institutions were merged in 1998 in anticipation of the creation of the Archbishops' Council from January 1999. Equal opportunities awareness training has been offered to all of the central Church institutions' staff and this year we introduced a new Equal Opportunities Policy.
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