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Partnerships UK

Mrs. Lawrence: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what progress has been made with Government plans to establish Partnerships UK; and if he will make a statement. [109298]

Mr. Andrew Smith: Partnerships UK will be a new public-private partnership which will make available to the public sector the key commercial skills to forge more and better partnerships with the private sector. The business plan for Partnerships UK is under development. The next step is to start putting arrangements in place to launch Partnerships UK. Parliamentary approval to this new service will be sought in an Estimate for HM Treasury, Class XVI, Vote 1. Pending that approval, urgent expenditure estimated at £3.6 million in 1999-2000 will be met by repayable advances from the Contingencies Fund.

Cash Machines

Mr. Chidgey: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the possible effect of the introduction of surcharges for cash machine withdrawals on financial exclusion. [108436]

Miss Melanie Johnson: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave my hon. Friend the Member for South Swindon (Ms Drown) on 2 February 2000, Official Report, column 634W.

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UK Economic Cycle

Sir Brian Mawhinney: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what specific steps he is taking more closely to align the United Kingdom's economic cycle with that of the countries in the euro group of the EU. [108869]

Miss Melanie Johnson [holding answer 7 February 2000]: The Government's policy on membership of the single currency remains as set out by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in October 1997.

The Government have introduced a programme of economic reforms, which by building a platform for greater stability are in the UK's national economic interest.

The Government have said they will recommend joining a successful single currency only if it is in our national economic interest to do so, and if the economic benefits to the UK, from joining, are clear and unambiguous.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

European Council Appointment

Mr. Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what controls, other than the provisions of the relevant treaties, there are on the activities of the High Representative and Secretary General of the European Council; for how long the present appointment has been made; and if it is renewable. [105130]

Mr. Vaz: The role of the Secretary General of the Council and High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy is to assist the Presidency. The Presidency represents the Union in matters coming within the common foreign and security policy, and is responsible for the implementation of decisions taken under the common foreign and security policy. The High Representative has been appointed for five years. There has been no discussion of whether or not this period is renewable.

Departmental Fees

Mr. Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the fees his Department, its agencies and associated public bodies collect; how much has been raised or it is anticipated will be raised from each of these fees from 1989-90 to 2004-05; and which of these fees count as negative expenditure. [106000]

Mr. Hain: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) are responsible for accounting for receipts from Visa Issuing, Passport Issuing Overseas and Other Consular Activities fees. Visa Issuing became negative public expenditure in 1997-98, Passport issuing became negative public expenditure in 1998-99 and Other Consular Activities are classed as Consolidated Funds Extra Receipts (CFERs).

Actual receipts from each of the categories, for the 10 year period from 1989-90 to 1998-99 and estimated receipts for 1999-2000 are, in pounds million, as follows.

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Fees

	Visa	Passport	Consular
1989-90	--	4.7	1.6
1990-91	31.0	4.3	1.6
1991-92	26.6	4.8	1.7
1992-93	31.2	5.1	2.6
1993-94	30.5	5.9	3.0
1994-95	32.3	6.1	3.5
1995-96	42.1	6.0	4.5
1996-97	57.0	6.0	4.6
1997-98	63.5	6.0	5.1
1998-99	67.5	10.7	4.6
1999-2000	69.0	14.6	4.6

Departmental Press Releases

Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many Press releases his Department issued in each year from 1995 to 1999. [106120]

Mr. Robin Cook: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office issues a daily bulletin of Ministerial engagements and announcements. We do not keep records of the number of additional press releases issued each year.

Departmental Consultation

Dr. Tony Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the

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public consultation exercises on policy matters carried out by his Department and its agencies in each of the last five years; who was consulted and by what means; how responses were analysed; how and in what form the results were transmitted to those responsible for the consultation; how the results of the consultation were published; and what analysis has been carried out of the extent and nature of policy changes resulting from the consultation. [106300]

Mr. Robin Cook: The Foreign Office welcomes ideas from outside Whitehall. Ministers and officials consult widely on policy matters. Detailed information of the kind asked for is, however, not available centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Russia

Mr. Mackinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what information the United Kingdom Embassy in Moscow has on the visits made to Russia by (a) presidents of other EU countries, (b) heads of Government of other EU countries and (c) other ministers of EU countries since 1 May 1997. [107628]

Mr. Vaz [holding answer 31 January 2000]: The United Kingdom Embassy in Moscow does not keep records of all visits to Russia by EU partners. However, the information readily available in the FCO (which is not necessarily comprehensive) shows that the following visits took place:

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Date	Visitor	EU Country
(a) Visits made by presidents of other EU countries
1 September 1997	President Herzog	Germany
25-27 September 1997	President Chirac	France
(b) Visits made by heads of government of other EU countries
4 January 1997	Chancellor Kohl	Germany
28-29 September 1997	Prime Minister Prodi	Italy
29-30 October 1997	Chancellor Klima	Austria
30 October to 1 November 1997	Prime Minister Jospin	France
30 November 1997	Chancellor Kohl	Germany
10 November 1998	Prime Minister Lipponen	Finland
16-17 November 1998	Chancellor Schroeder	Germany
1 June 1999	Prime Minister Bondevik	Norway
29 July 1999	Prime Minister Lipponen	Finland
(c) Visits made by other ministers of EU countries
7-9 September 1997	Foreign Minister Derycke	Belgium
8-9 September 1997	Foreign Minister Vedrine	France
21-24 September 1997	Defence Minister Von Sudow	Sweden
30 October 1997	Interior Minister Napolitano	Italy
30 October to 1 November 1997	Foreign Minister Vedrine	France
17 November 1997	Foreign Minister Petersen	Denmark
17 September 1998	Foreign Minister Schussel	Austria
17 September 1998	Foreign Minister Kinkel	Germany
10 February 1999	Foreign Minister Halonen	Finland
May 1999	Foreign Minister Papandreou	Greece
30 November to 1 December 1999	Foreign Minister Papandreou	Greece
20 January 2000	Foreign Minister Dini	Italy

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The rest of this information is not held centrally and to provide a complete answer would incur disproportionate costs.

Research Contracts

Dr. Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to his answer of 20 December 1999, Official Report, column 315W, on

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departmental research contracts, how many research contracts, other than science or technology contracts, have been let by his Department since May 1997; what is the value of each contract, and in each case whether the contract included (a) departmental veto over publication of the research results, (b) departmental control over the date of publication of the research and (c) a requirement that the final research results incorporate departmental

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amendments; and if he will place in the Library a copy of the standard research contract currently in use by his Department. [107103]

Mr. Hain [holding answer 1 February 2000]: We have not let any research contracts since May 1997. There is no standard FCO research contract.

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