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HOUSE OF COMMONS
Special Advisers
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the President of the Council if she will list the subject and date of each written briefing prepared by her special advisers for all Labour Members since May 1997 and the total number and total cost to date of these. [89997]
Mrs. Beckett:
Special Advisers are appointed under terms and conditions set out in the Model Contract for Special Advisers. Schedule 1, Part 1 of the Model
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Contract sets out the role and duties of Special Advisers. As well as research for Ministers and reviewing papers, contributing to policy planning within the Department and preparing policy papers, speech writing and liaison with outside interest groups, their role explicitly includes liaising with the Party and helping to brief Party MPs. Records are not held of when such briefings are given. Similar arrangements have applied under successive Governments.
Mr. O'Hara:
To ask the Chairman of the Accommodation and Works Committee if he will list the type and designation of the electrical cable used to wire (i) the lifts, (ii) the standby generation system, (iii) the emergency lighting system, (iv) the fire alarm system and (v) the smoke extraction system in Portcullis house. [90704]
Sir Sydney Chapman:
I have asked the Director of Works to write to the hon. Member and place a copy of his reply in the Library of the House.
European Communities Working Groups
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the European Communities working groups which met over the last 12 months with a representative from his Department in attendance; if he will list the number of times each met; if he will indicate the nature of the Government's representation; and if he will make a statement. [88474]
Ms Quin: Officials from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office regularly attend more than 50 working groups, most notably those dealing with the EU's external relations.
The frequency of meetings varies from group to group. For example, the ad hoc Lome working group meets weekly, while the Euro-Med group meets monthly. The Government are always represented at these meetings by officials from the FCO or by officials from the UK's Permanent Representation in Brussels.
There is no record of the exact number of times each working group has met. Given the large number of groups involved it would be extremely difficult and time consuming to compile such a record.
Mr. McNamara:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what estimate he has made of when the River Danube in Serbia will be open for normal commercial traffic; what assessment he has made of the effect of the blocking of the River Danube to commercial traffic on the economies of adjacent states other than Serbia; and what help is being given by NATO and the EU to adjacent states whose commercial and industrial traffic has been affected by the blocking of the Danube by destroyed Serbian bridges. [90004]
Mr. Tony Lloyd:
We do not know when the River Danube will be open for normal commercial traffic. We are in close touch with all the countries surrounding
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Serbia, and with the international financial institutions who are carrying out economic impact assessments. We have already contributed to packages of support for those countries, other than Serbia, most directly affected, and will continue to do so.
Mr. Maples:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how much expenditure his Department (a) has incurred to date and (b) expects to incur in the future, on preparations for possible United Kingdom entry into the European single currency; and if he will make a statement. [91237]
Ms Quin:
Following the publication of the Government's Outline National Changeover Plan, my Department is considering what preparations may be necessary.
Mr. Bercow:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if the consolidated report to the Council on the EU Code of Conduct on arms sales will be made public. [90700]
Mr. Tony Lloyd:
Member states have yet to decide whether to make public the consolidated report on the operation of the Code of Conduct. This is likely to depend on the extent to which the report, which has not yet been agreed, contains information which member states have agreed should remain confidential, such as details of individual licence refusals and consultations between member states. Any changes to the Code as a result of the report will by definition be made public.
Mr. Bercow:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will place in the Library a copy of the guidance supplied to posts overseas on the application of the Working Time Directive. [90699]
Mr. Tony Lloyd:
I am placing in the Library of the House a copy of the guidance supplied to posts overseas on the application of the Working Time Directive/ Regulations.
Sir Richard Body:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what plans he has for future support of Radio B-92 in Yugoslavia; and what measures he is planning to encourage the restoration of former management. [90941]
Mr. Tony Lloyd:
Her Majesty's Government will not offer any support to Radio B-92 as long as it is being run by the Milosevic regime.
FCO officials have met with the exiled representative of Radio B-92 and are discussing means of restoring the station to its rightful owners.
Sir Richard Body:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on his policy regarding adherence to International Labour Organisation legislation; and which
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human rights instruments (a) have been rejected, (b) are under consideration and (c) have been accepted in principle, where the United Kingdom had not fully acceded, since May 1997. [90944]
Mr. Tony Lloyd:
The Government are committed to supporting and promoting adherence to the standards and principles of the International Labour Organisation (ILO). My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Education and Employment has lead responsibility for Government policy towards the ILO.
Our commitment to the ILO is matched by action. At the International Labour Conference (ILC) in June 1999, we played a leading role in securing agreement to a new Convention on the Worst Forms of Child Labour, which becomes one of the ILO's core labour standards. At that Conference, we also announced our ratification of the ILO Convention 111 on Discrimination in Employment, one of the core labour conventions. At the ILC in June 1998, we played a key role in the agreement of a Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work. And we are currently reviewing our position on ILO Convention 138 on Minimum Age of employment, the only one of the seven existing core labour conventions that the UK has yet to ratify. The UK has ratified a total of 66 conventions, which bears favourable comparison with other industrialised countries.
My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Home Department announced the outcome of the Government's review of international human rights instruments in reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Halton (Mr. Twigg) on 3 March 1999, Official Report, columns 756-57. Since then, on 31 March 1999 we signed the Second Optional Protocol to the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights, and on 20 May 1999 we ratified protocol 6 to the European Convention on Human Rights. Both protocols concern abolition of the death penalty.
Mr. Brady:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many parliamentary questions were tabled to his Department for written answer on a named day between May 1997 and 14 April 1999; and what percentage of them received a substantive response on that named day. [91066]
Mr. Tony Lloyd:
2,351 parliamentary questions have been tabled to the FCO for named day answer since 2 May 1997. Our existing database does not allow us to determine which of them received a substantive response on that named day without manually checking each question. To do so would incur disproportionate cost.
Lorna Fitzsimons:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many entry clearance applications for indefinite leave to remain from Islamabad have been made in each year since 1992. [90981]
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| Year | Settlement applications |
|---|---|
| 1994 | 6,973 |
| 1995 | 7,869 |
| 1996 | 7,988 |
| 1997 | 9,183 |
| 1998 | 10,837 |
Notes:
1. The figures relate to applications in Islamabad for settlement entry clearance. The term 'Indefinite leave to remain' refers to the removal of conditions of entry by the Home Office after an individual subject to immigration control has spent a qualifying period in the UK.
2. Information for 1992 and 1993 is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
3. Further figures on settlement applications for the years 1994-98 inclusive can be obtained from the Global Entry Clearance Statistics, copies of which are available in the House of Commons Library.
Lorna Fitzsimons: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how the average turn-round time for processing applications for (a) visit visas and (b) marriage visas from Islamabad has changed over the last five years. [90974]
Mr. Hoon: Non-settlement visa applicants dealt with at Tier 1 or 2 will normally have their application processed within 24 hours. The percentage of visa applicants dealt with at Tier 1 and 2 has risen from 52 per cent. in 1994 to 54 per cent. in May 1999. Only those processed at Tier 3 (non-settlement) or Tier 4 (settlement) will be recalled at a later date for interview. Waiting times for these two tiers have been collated only since 1996 and are as follows:
| Date | Waiting time (days) |
|---|---|
| At 31 December 1996 | 3 |
| At 31 December 1997 | 11 |
| At 31 December 1998 | 18 |
| Waiting time (months) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Date | Queue 2 | Queue 3 |
| At 31 December 1996 | 4 | 6 |
| At 31 December 1997 | 4 | 5 |
| At 31 December 1998 | 6 | 7 |
Note:
Settlement applications in Islamabad are dealt with in four queues:
Q1: Right of Abode claimants, dependent relatives over 65, special compassionate cases.
Q2: Spouses, children under 18.
Q3: Fiance(e)s, other categories.
Q4: Re-applicants.
Persons applying for settlement in UK in order to join a spouse or parent are dealt with at queue 2; those coming to the UK to marry and settle are dealt with in queue 3. The latter also includes other visa applicants and is not solely for the categories mentioned. Waiting times fluctuate during the year. Further details on waiting times are obtainable from the Global Entry Clearance Statistics, copies of which are held in the House of Commons Library.
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Lorna Fitzsimons:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many applications for visitor's visas have been (a) made and (b) granted in each year since 1992; and how many in each year were from Islamabad. [90980]
| Worldwide | Islamabad | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Received | Issued | Received | Issued | |
| 1994 | 1,086,381 | 980,054 | 35,472 | 25,187 |
| 1995 | 1,167,295 | 1,042,667 | 35,597 | 22,130 |
| 1996 | 1,372,056 | 1,240,341 | 31,354 | 19,730 |
| 1997 | 1,372,314 | 1,243,987 | 23,828 | 14,726 |
| 1998 | 1,397,431 | 1,246,034 | 38,250 | 26,737 |
Note:
1. Information for 1992 and 1993 is not held centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
2. Further figures on non-settlement applications for the years 1994-98 inclusive can be obtained from the Global Entry Clearance Statistics, copies of which are available in the House of Commons Library.
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