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Correspondence

Mr. Whittingdale: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when a reply will be sent to the letter of 14 March from the hon. Member for Maldon and East Chelmsford to the Parliamentary Secretary. [124135]

Mr. Morley: I replied to the letter from the hon. Member on 25 May 2000.

Alcoholic Beverages

Mr. Field: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what information his Department collects on the alcoholic content of beverages. [123597]

Ms Quin [holding answer 25 May 2000]: We do not collect specific information on the alcoholic content of beverages. In order to prevent consumers from being misled, all prepacked alcoholic drinks with an alcoholic strength of more than 1.2 per cent. must be labelled with an indication of their alcoholic strength by volume (abv). In addition, minimum alcoholic strengths for specified spirit drinks above 15 per cent. abv, and for wine, are laid down in EC legislation.

Agriculture Council

Mr. Hood: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what was the outcome of the Agriculture Council held in Brussels on 16 May; and if he will make a statement. [124029]

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Mr. Nick Brown: I refer my hon. Friend to the reply given to my hon. Friend the Member for Wimbledon (Mr. Casale) on 24 May 2000, Official Report, column 551W.

Regional Network

Mr. Letwin: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he has any plans to close or restructure his Department's regional network. [123970]

Ms Quin: Ministers are currently considering the report of the review of CAP scheme administration, which my right hon. Friend the Minister commissioned from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) last autumn. The report recommends that we should merge the CAP scheme processing functions of MAFF's Regional Service Centres and the Intervention Board Executive Agency to create a new payments agency, taking full advantage of the benefits offered by modern technology. On this basis, PwC consider that it will be possible to deliver a radically improved service for farmers and significant savings to the taxpayer.

My Department is also drawing up plans to align other aspects of its regional activities with the Government Office network. This will ensure that we can further strengthen our regional policy presence.

The future of the Department's Regional Service Centres is being considered in the context of these two reviews. Radical restructuring will be possible only if funding can be made available in the Spending Review 2000.

Right to Roam

Mr. Yeo: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on the implications of a right to roam over enclosed land in Scotland for the policing of the right to roam along the England-Scotland border. [123019]

Mr. Mullin [holding answer 22 May 2000]: I have been asked to reply.

Responsibility for the proposed new right of access in Scotland rests with the Scottish Executive. Although the Scottish proposals are still at an early stage, I understand officials from the Countryside Agency and Scottish Natural Heritage have recently discussed possible cross- border issues.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Chechnya

Mr. David Atkinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if his recent discussions with his Russian counterpart in Moscow, covered allegations of war crimes and human rights violations in Chechnya; and if he will make a statement. [123299]

Mr. Vaz: My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary raised reported human rights abuse in Chechnya with Russian Foreign Minister Ivanov during his visit to Moscow on 17 May. He also urged that those responsible for investigating reports of abuse be given the necessary resources and powers. The UK remains deeply concerned

5 Jun 2000 : Column: 40W

over the situation in Chechnya, and particularly about the human cost of the military campaign. We will continue to raise our concerns with Russia at every opportunity.

Mr. David Atkinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the recent visit to the Russian Federation by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to investigate war crimes and human rights violations in Chechnya. [123301]

Mr. Vaz: We welcomed the visit to Moscow and the north Caucasus by Mrs. Robinson from 31 March to 4 April. Her visit, and her report on it to the UN Commission on Human Rights helped to illuminate the deeply disturbing situation in Chechnya. In the light of the visit, the UK, with EU and other partners, co-sponsored a Resolution on Chechnya at the UN Commission on Human Rights, urging Russia to take action to address the reports of human rights abuse in Chechnya.

European Commission Information

Directorate-General

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (1) if he will make a statement on the (a) gender balance and (b) budget and (c) role of the Women's Information Section in the Information Directorate-General at the European Commission; [123624]

(2) if he will make a statement on the (a) role and (b) current activities of the Head of Sector, Information for Women, in DGX (Information) in the European Commission. [123650]

Mr. Vaz: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the office of the Commission in London.

Kosovo

Mr. Dalyell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the letter of 4 May 2000 from the Minister of State, the hon. Member for Leicester, East (Mr. Vaz), to the hon. Member for Mid-Sussex (Mr. Soames), what estimate he has made of the number of Kosovar Albanians killed in Kosovo by forces of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in the year leading up to June 1999; and what the basis is for the figure. [122638]

Mr. Vaz [holding answer 25 May 2000]: We estimate that at least 10,000 Kosovar Albanian civilians were killed in Kosovo between June 1998 and June 1999. This figure is based upon a variety of sources, including debriefing of refugees, eye witness accounts, reports from international and non-governmental organisations and the media.

Animal Welfare

Mr. Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what aspects of the UK's foreign policy relate to the promotion of animal welfare; and if he will make a statement. [124210]

Mr. Hain: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office works to promote British values worldwide. This includes the promotion of acceptable standards of animal welfare. Our overseas posts regularly raise these issues with their

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host Governments and encourage them to adopt similar standards. We have also taken a number of initiatives such as encouraging agreement at the recent CITES conference on elephant welfare.

Sierra Leone

Mr. Mackinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what measures he is taking to ensure that weapons supplied to the Sierra Leone army are not used by child combatants. [124444]

Mr. Hain: We are very concerned at reports that British weapons may be in the hands of child soldiers. This is why we sought and secured from the Government of Sierra Leone assurances that any UK-supplied weapons will be used only in accordance with established human rights principles and humanitarian law; and why the release programme of light weapons to the Government of Sierra Leone, as announced by the Defence Secretary on 23 May, will be carefully supervised by British military personnel on the ground with a view to ensuring that any British weapons only go to adult soldiers of the Sierra Leone army for training or for legitimate operational requirements.

Mr. Mackinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has made in respect of the use of child combatants by the Sierra Leone army; and if he will make a statement. [124445]

Mr. Hain: We have raised the issue of child soldiers with President Kabbah. He has assured us that it is not his Government's policy to employ child soldiers, in accordance with Sierra Leonean law and its obligations under the convention of the Rights of the Child, and has issued instructions to his forces to immediately demobilise any child soldiers in their ranks.

British Overseas Territories Bill

Dr. Marek: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to his answer of 12 May 2000, Official Report, column 496W, if he will list the principles to be addressed in the Overseas Territories Bill. [123507]

Mr. Battle: The key principles will amend the 1981 British Nationality Act and build on the provisions made in relation to the Falkland Islands by the British Nationality (Falkland Islands) Act 1983. They are:

the automatic acquisition of British citizenship for existing British Dependent Territories citizens (BDTC) from a qualifying territory at commencement of the Act and for those born in an overseas territory after commencement;

acquisition by discretionary registration for those acquiring BDTC by registration or naturalisation after commencement;

BDTC status to continue in parallel with British citizenship with provision to renounce British citizenship acquired under the Act in favour of remaining solely a BDTC.

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