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Brigadier Saunders

31. Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on progress made to bring to justice those responsible for the murder of Brigadier Saunders in Greece. [129572]

Mr. Battle: Since the incident Her Majesty's Government has been in close contact with the Greek authorities at the highest level. At their request, a team of specialists from the Metropolitan police flew to Athens on the day of the murder. They are still there, working closely with the Greek police. The House must understand that the operational aspects must remain confidential. However, we remain committed, as do the Greek Government, to bringing the perpetrators to justice.

Fiji

33. Mr. Borrow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on his discussions with the administration in Fiji. [129574]

Mr. Battle: We have kept in close touch with the Fijian authorities since the beginning of the current crisis. On 23 May my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary spoke personally to the then President Mara to assure him of our support for a peaceful negotiated solution to the hostage situation. Our High Commission in Suva have been in constant touch with the Fijian authorities since then. In parallel we are keeping in close touch with the Commonwealth Secretariat and with key international partners over a coordinated response to the latest interim administration, announced on 18 July.

Angola

34. Ms Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what plans he has to visit Angola to assess the situation there. [129575]

Mr. Hain: I visited Angola from 4-6 July when I met President Dos Santos and other senior members of the Angolan Government. I also met representatives of the opposition including UNITA and representatives of the Aid Agencies, Civil Society and the Church. I visited a refugee camp at Huambo and signed a UK/Angola Memorandum of Understanding on Air Services and an Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement.

Departmental Presentation

35. Sir Teddy Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of procedures for informing the public about his Department's policies. [129576]

Mr. Hain: Members of the public may access information on Her Majesty's Government's foreign policy via the Foreign and Commonwealth website--http://www.fco.gov.uk--which includes an archive of ministerial policy speeches dating back to May 1997 and other key policy statements and documents. "Briefing Papers" are published on topical areas of foreign policy

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and the "Key Foreign Policy Issues" section includes detailed contributions from many Departments on specific policy work, for example "Britain and the EU", "Human Rights in Foreign Policy", "UK and the United Nations" and "UK and the Commonwealth".

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office website is one of the most heavily accessed sites in Whitehall, with around 350,000 page impressions to the site per week. The majority of visitors to the website are from the UK. The "Britain and the EU" home page has been accessed over 8,800 times since the beginning of June. Users may also register their personal foreign policy interests with the website and receive notification by e-mail of the latest news updates. To date, 12,500 UK-based users have registered their interest this way.

As part of the London String of Pearls Millennium Festival, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office is open to the public every Tuesday between 9 May and 25 July. In addition to viewing the Foreign and Commonwealth Office historic rooms, an average of 3,000 visitors per week have seen displays on the Foreign and Commonwealth's work in particular areas, such as Europe, International Security, Global Issues and the Americas. Feedback from the visitors has been very positive.

Diplomatic Bags

36. Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the impact of new technology on the use of the diplomatic bag. [129577]

Mr. Battle: Frequency of bag service has reduced marginally over the last 4 years by 1 per cent. week per post.

Volume of material for the years 1997-99 has remained within 0.1 per cent.

World Service

37. Mr. Opik: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent meetings he has held with ministerial colleagues to discuss funding for the BBC World Service; and if he will make a statement. [129578]

Mr. Hain: There have been numerous contacts between the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and other ministerial colleagues in the context of the current Spending Review. We have presented a strong case for increased funding for the BBC World Service, as for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office as a whole.

Lord Levy

Mr. Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what mechanism exists for his Department to receive reports from Lord Levy when he is acting as the Prime Minister's personal envoy on foreign affairs. [129566]

Mr. Hain: Lord Levy's visits are reported to my right hon. Friends the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary, in person by Lord Levy, and by telegram from the Ambassador in the country concerned.

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India

Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent representations he has made to the Indian Government about upholding the rule of law for social and religious minority groups in India. [129573]

Mr. Hain: My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary raised our concerns over incidents of religious intolerance with the Indian Home Minister, L. K. Advani, during talks in London in June and with Indian Foreign Minister, Jaswant Singh, during his visit to India in April.

Mrs. Brinton: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the Government's policy towards India's claim to a permanent seat on the UN Security Council. [131110]

Mr. Hain: Our policy is for each regional group to recommend who should occupy any permanent seat allocated to them in an enlarged Security Council. My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary reiterated this point when he visited India earlier this year. India would clearly be a contender for any eventual Asian Group seat.

Afghanistan

Ms Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the application for an export licence for mine-clearance equipment to Afghanistan. [131317]

Mr. Hain: Following consultations with this Department and the Ministry of Defence, the Department of Trade and Industry recently issued a licence for the export of mine clearance equipment for the use by the HALO Trust to aid their demining activities in Afghanistan. This licence was granted for humanitarian purposes. This decision does not affect the Government's continued support for the EU Common Position on arms exports to Afghanistan.

British Indian Ocean Territory

Mr. Coleman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on policy towards the British Indian Ocean Territory. [131318]

Mr. Battle: The territory's immigration laws and policy are currently the subject of an action in the High Court. We are aware that some of the Ilois community have expressed an interest in returning to settle on the outer islands of the archipelago. We have been studying the feasibility of settlement on the outer islands, which have been uninhabited for 30 years, and the potential environmental impact. This work is not complete and we will continue it.

Recently we have sponsored a group of Ilois to visit the outer islands to see conditions there for themselves.

We shall maintain our sovereignty over the BIOT for as long as our treaty obligations require it. Thereafter, we stand by the undertaking we have made that we would cede sovereignty of the territory to Mauritius.

Lebanon

Dr. Starkey: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what proposals his Department

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has discussed for development aid to Lebanon for reconstruction in Southern Lebanon with (a) the Lebanese Government, (b) other EU member states and (c) the EU's High Representative, Sr. Javier Solana. [130426]

Mr. Hain: We have discussed proposals for development aid for southern Lebanon with the Lebanese Government, with other EU member states in regular meetings of the relevant EU working groups, and with the European Union Special Envoy, Miguel Moratinos. These proposals focus on the rehabilitation of southern Lebanon into the infrastructure of Lebanon and the effective disbursement of international aid to the area.

Dr. Starkey: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what proposals his Department has discussed for resolving the issue of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon with (a) the Lebanese Government and (b) other EU member states. [130427]

Mr. Hain: The issue of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon is part of the wider permanent status negotiations between the Israeli Government and the PLO. We support for all Palestinian refugees the implementation of UNGA Resolution 194 through negotiation and agreement between the parties. We discuss this issue regularly with the Lebanese Government, as host country of this refugee group, and wither other EU member states, as well as with Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

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