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Forestry Commission

Mr. Breed: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how much Forestry Commission land has been sold in each of the last 10 years; and if he will make a statement. [R] [128043]

Mr. Morley [holding answer 28 June 2000]: The subject of the question relates to matters undertaken by Forest Enterprise. I have asked its Chief Executive, Dr. Bob McIntosh, to arrange for a reply to be given.

Letter from Bob McIntosh to Mr. Colin Breed, dated July 2000:

I have been asked to reply to your question to the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food about the areas of Forestry Commission land sold in each of the last 10 years.

The following table shows the areas, in hectares, of both forest land and other land sold by the Commission throughout Great Britain.

To year ending 31 March	Forest Land	Buildings and other land	Total
1990	5,559	2,292	7,851
1991	4,770	2,658	7,428
1992	6,263	648	6,911
1993	6,827	3,762	10,589
1994	14,419	531	14,950
1995	10,014	794	10,808
1996	8,217	871	9,088
1997	9,605	1,237	10,842
1998	10,756	1,886	12,642
1999	4,261	1,493	5,754

The Government stopped the large scale sales of forest land by the Commission when they took up office in May 1997. The Commission may now only sell agricultural land, land associated with houses and other buildings, unplantable land and relatively small and isolated blocks of forest land which do not make a significant contribution to its objective and which are surplus to its requirements. The Commission may also sell areas for development where this is in the public interest. Areas of forest land which are important for public access will not be sold unless an access agreement is in place.
Most of the sales in 1997 and 1998 were agreed before May 1997.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

PFI Contracts

Mr. Alan Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the PFI contracts entered into by his Department, indicating (a) their dates of commencement, (b) their value, (c) if they have been subject to refinancing and (d) if his Department has a claw-back entitlement to share in savings arising from refinancing. [129049]

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Mr. Hain: The FCO has three significant PFI contracts:

Lease Plan Cars (Public Private Partnership PPP deal)--lease and operate vehicle fleet--value dependent on the number of posts taking up lease-plan option--1996. The lease-plan deal is a PPP arrangement and is not structured in the manner of a standard PFI contract.

Minerva--record retrieval software--value £1.62 million (net presentive value n.p.v.)--1997. The Minerva contract has not been subject to re-financing.

FTN--FCO telecommunications network--value £106 million (n.p.v.)--May 2000.

Berlin--build and operate new Embassy--value £49.8 million (n.p.v.)--June 2000.

Both the Berlin and FTN contracts have only recently commenced.

The FCO does not have a "claw-back" entitlement built in to existing PFI contracts.

BBC World Service

Mr. Peter Bottomley: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the BBC World Service online website and its development. [129602]

Mr. Hain: The BBC World Service websites currently receive about 25 million page impressions and audio listens a month. We support the World Service's ambition to develop its online services further, including in some vernacular languages into fully multimedia sites. Provision for the development of such services has been included in the FCO's bid on behalf of the World Service under the 2000 Spending Review.

Telephone Steering Systems

Mr. Ben Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many agencies of his Department use touch tone telephone steering systems when dealing with telephone inquiries from the general public. [129640]

Mr. Battle: None.

Mr. Ben Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many of his Department's telephone lines used by the general public are responded to by touch tone telephone steering systems. [129622]

Mr. Battle: Two.

Moluccas

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will seek the establishment of an international fact-finding mission to undertake an impartial investigation into the atrocities in the Moluccas. [129456]

Mr. Battle: We have been deeply disturbed by reports of escalating violence in Maluku. But a solution cannot be imposed from outside. Diplomatic efforts are now focused on pressing the Indonesian Government to take urgent and effective action. I discussed the issue with the Indonesian Ambassador on 3 July. The Head of the Diplomatic Service raised our concerns directly with President Wahid in Jakarta on 4 July. We and others are continuing to urge the Indonesian authorities to redouble their efforts.

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Mr. Chaytor: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent representations he has made to the Government of Indonesia in respect of the intimidation of Moluccan Christians. [128332]

Mr. Battle: We have been deeply disturbed by reports of escalating violence in Maluku. I discussed the issued with the Indonesian Ambassador on 3 July. The Head of the Diplomatic Service raised our concerns directly with President Wahid in Jakarta on 4 July. We and others are continuing to urge the Indonesian authorities to redouble efforts. The UK has seconded a specialist to work with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to establish mechanisms for managing the international humanitarian response. UNDP dispatched a Humanitarian Co-ordinator on a one week needs assessment visit to Maluku on 9 July.

European Regulations and Directives

Mr. Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to his answer of 15 June 2000, Official Report, column 701W, on European directives and regulations, how access to the Celex Database can be obtained; and from what source the information it contains originates. [129610]

Mr. Vaz: Access to the Celex Database can be obtained either by CDROM or via the internet. The information contained in the Database is provided by the European Commission and originates primarily from the Official Journal of the European Communities.

Iran

Ms Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has made to Iran regarding the verdict in the trial of the Jews from Shiraz. [129495]

Mr. Hain: We have made clear to the Iranian authorities our deep concern at the verdicts and sentences passed on 10 Jews and two Muslims on 1 July. We have done so through a public statement issued on 1 July, and on 5 July, both through our Ambassador in Tehran, and here with the Iranian Ambassador to London.

Mr. Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with the Iranian Government on human rights in that country; and if he will make a statement. [129514]

Mr. Hain [holding answer 7 July 2000]: We and our EU partners regularly press the Iranian authorities over our concerns about certain human rights issues in Iran. On each of the three occasions that my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary has met his Iranian counterpart Dr. Kamal Kharrazi, human rights have featured prominently in their discussions. I too discussed our concerns with Deputy Foreign Minister Sarmadi during his visit to the UK in March.

In addition, we regularly raise our concerns through our Ambassador in Tehran and the Iranian Ambassador to London.

Mr. Spring: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what talks he has had with human rights organisations regarding the sentencing of the Iranian Jews convicted of espionage. [129675]

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Mr. Hain [holding answer 7 July 2000]: We have maintained regular contact with a number of concerned organisations, including the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Inter-Parliamentary Council Against Anti-Semitism on this case.

Mr. Spring: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when he next plans to visit Iran. [129676]

Mr. Hain [holding answer 7 July 2000]: We will be consulting with the Iranian authorities to arrange mutually convenient dates for a visit.

Mr. Spring: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what contact he has had with other EU Governments regarding the sentencing of the Iranian Jews for espionage. [129677]

Mr. Hain [holding answer 7 July 2000]: We and our EU partners have been in regular contact throughout the detention and subsequent trial on espionage charges of the 13 members of the Shiraz Jewish community and eight Muslims. A statement expressing the deep concern of all EU member states at the sentencing of 10 of the Jewish defendants and two of the Muslim defendants was issued shortly after the verdicts were announced on 1 July.

Mr. Spring: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has made to the Iranian Government following the sentencing of the Iranian Jews. [129715]

Mr. Hain [holding answer 7 July 2000]: We have made clear to the Iranian authorities our deep concern at the verdicts and sentences passed on 10 Jews and two Muslims on 1 July. We have done so through a public statement issued on 1 July, and on 5 July, both through our Ambassador in Tehran, and here with the Iranian Ambassador to London.

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