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Police Constables

Miss Widdecombe: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what (a) nationality and (b) residency requirements there are for appointment as a police constable in England and Wales; which police forces in England and Wales undertake which part of the recruitment process outside the United Kingdom; and if he will make a statement. [118543]

Mr. Straw: Home Office Circulars 99/1982 and 33/1987, issued to police forces on 3 November 1982 and 15 June 1997 respectively, provide guidance on the nationality qualifications for applicants to the police service. To be eligible for appointment as a constable a candidate must be:

(a) a British citizen; or
(b) a Commonwealth citizen (other than a British citizen) or a citizen of the Irish Republic, in which case he or she must satisfy one of the following conditions:
(i) at least one of his or her parents must be, or have been at death, a Commonwealth citizen or a citizen of the Irish Republic; or
(ii) he or she must have resided in a country or territory within the Commonwealth or in the Irish Republic, or have been employed elsewhere in the service of the Crown, or partly have so resided and partly been so employed, for at least five years out of the last eight years preceding the date of his or her appointment. If not qualified under (i) or (ii) above, he/she must satisfy the chief officer of police that he/she is so closely connected with a country or territory within the Commonwealth either by ancestry, upbringing or residence, or by reason of national service, that an exception may properly be made in his/her favour.

There is no statutory requirement for an applicant for appointment as a police officer to have resided in the force area prior to application which is a matter to be

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determined on a local basis by chief police officers. No record is held centrally of which forces have a residency requirement as part of their recruitment process.

Cabinet Office guidance, on which police forces base their policy for carrying out security clearances of applicants, recommends that the normal residency requirement for security clearance is that the applicant has been resident in the United Kingdom for the previous three years. However, if the applicant has spent the previous three years in another country, discretion may be given to undertake overseas security checks where this is possible.

We do not hold any information centrally on which police forces undertake parts of the recruitment process outside the United Kingdom. This could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Representation of the People Act

Miss Widdecombe: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the oral statement by the Under-Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, the hon. Member for Knowsley, North and Sefton, East (Mr. Howarth), on 13 January 2000, Official Report, columns 487-89, what evidence of adequate public consultation was provided by each local authority submitting proposals for a pilot scheme under section 10 of the Representation of the People Act 2000; which schemes were (a) withdrawn and (b) not approved because of a lack of adequate public consultation; and if he will make a statement. [118562]

Mr. Straw: Local authorities which made applications under section 10 of the Representation of the People Act 2000 were required to give an assurance that no voter would be put at a disadvantage by their pilot schemes but they were not required to submit specific evidence of any public consultation which they may have undertaken before submitting their applications. Birmingham, Halton, Pendle, Telford and Wrekin and Warrington later withdrew their applications but we were not advised of the reason for withdrawal in every case. Applications from Milton Keynes, Solihull, Thurrock and Wirral were not approved because of local opposition to the proposed schemes.

Hard Drugs

Ms Rosie Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on progress in tackling the illegal trade in hard drugs. [116803]

Mr. Charles Clarke: Stifling the availability of illegal drugs is one of the four key aims of the Government's drugs strategy.

The United Kingdom Anti-Drugs Co-ordinator has set challenging targets to reduce access to heroin and cocaine among young people by 25 per cent. by 2005 and by 50 per cent. by 2008. He will be reporting on progress in his second Annual Report in the near future.

Tackling the supply of illicit drugs, particularly heroin and cocaine, is a top priority for the police and Customs. In 1999, the National Crime Squad seized drugs with a street value of £77 million, a two-and-a-half fold increase on 1998.

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FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Burma

Dr. Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent discussions he has had with his EU counterparts concerning the implementation of investment sanctions against Burma. [118362]

Mr. Battle: We regularly review the adequacy of EU measures on Burma. We have today persuaded EU Partners to strengthen the EU Common Position on Burma with three new measures: adding a ban on export of equipment that might be used for internal repression or terrorism; naming and shaming those Burmese leaders banned from visiting the EU; and freezing their assets.

Dr. Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what plans he has to introduce legislation to allow the imposition of unilateral investment sanctions on Burma. [118364]

Mr. Battle: We believe that multilateral sanctions are more effective than unilateral ones and have no plans to introduce legislation allowing adoption of unilateral investment sanctions on Burma. Our policy is not to encourage trade or investment in Burma.

Mr. Savidge: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had recently with UK business about investment in Burma; and if he will make a statement. [118656]

Mr. Battle: We have made clear to Premier Oil that we do not encourage trade with or investment in Burma. On 27 March, I met Charles Jamieson, Chief Executive of Premier Oil, and made clear to him our deep concern about their investment in Burma and that we would welcome their moving out as soon as and to the fullest extent that they lawfully can. We regularly give business inquirers a statement on the nature of the Burmese regime and the state of the economy.

Departmental Properties

Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what (a) number and (b) percentage of properties in his charge are empty; and what steps are being taken by his Department to reduce the number of such properties. [116918]

Mr. Battle [holding answer 3 April 2000]: There are 527 office buildings and Residences for Heads of Post overseas. Of these, eight are currently empty. This represents 1.5 per cent. of the total.

The administration of staff residential properties on the overseas estate has been devolved to individual Posts. Details of any empty properties at all 222 Posts could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

FCO policy is that no property should be left vacant unless this is unavoidable in the short-term or there are reasons for its retention, such as a break in diplomatic relations. Properties that are surplus to requirements are disposed of as soon as market conditions allow.

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Lawyers

Mr. Ieuan Wyn Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many lawyers are employed by his Department; and how many were employed in 1995. [117812]

Mr. Hain: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office employs its own lawyers (Legal Advisers).

On 31 March 1995 the number of Legal Advisers employed by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office was 29. Of these 29, one was on a career-break and one was on loan to the Legal Secretariat to the Law Officers.

On 31 March 2000 the number of Legal Advisers employed by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office was 29. Of these 29, one is on loan to the Legal Secretariat to the Law Officers.

European Union

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what report he has received from the official UK participants in the Friends of Europe Conference of 9 March in Brussels; and what contribution was made by the UK participants. [118021]

Mr. Vaz: The British Ambassador to Belgium, Mr. David Colvin, attended part of the Friends of Europe Conference on 9 March as an observer. He did not address the Conference and no report was made.

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will place in the Library a copy of his speech of 27 March, in Portsmouth, on the role of Governments in promoting Europe. [118024]

Mr. Vaz: My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary did not attend the Council of Europe Parliamentary and Public Relations Committee visit to Portsmouth from 25-28 March.

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many responses he has received to the Your Britain, Your Europe questionnaire; what proportion this represents of those distributed; and what the results are. [118022]

Mr. Vaz: We received only a small number of replies to the short questionnaire attached to the "Your Britain, Your Europe" leaflet that accompanied my roadshow. The formal responses represented a small percentage of the seven thousand leaflets distributed, though many more people expressed their support at the time. We therefore decided not to draw any conclusions from such a small sample of written replies.

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is the purpose of the publication, "Six Years of Change: How Funding From the European Union has Helped the North West 1994-99"; what was the cost of producing it; how many copies were distributed; what contribution was made to it by his Department; and if he will make a statement on his policy on the political neutrality in respect of information about the costs and benefits of EU membership in such publications. [118028]

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Mr. Vaz: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office did not make a financial contribution to this publication. For further details I refer the hon. Member to the Director of the Government Office for the North-west.

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what was the (a) nature and (b) cost of official representation at the Britain in Europe event in Brussels, on 22 March. [118026]

Mr. Vaz: Some officials from the UK's Permanent Representation to the European Union attend the reception on the evening of 22 March. This entailed no official cost.

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