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Debt Management Office

Mr. Tyrie: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) if he will publish the Debt Management Office's profit and loss account for each year since its inception; [159999]

(2) how much of each short term money asset has been held by the Debt Management Office, representing its short term money under management for each quarter since its creation; [160001]

(3) how much short term money has been under management by the Debt Management Office for each month since the Debt Management Office's creation; [159998]

(4) how much of each short term money market asset has been bought by the Debt Management Office from the net increase in short term assets in 2000-01 under management; and if he will publish the results in tabular form; [160000]

(5) what returns have been made on short term assets managed by the Debt Management Office for each quarter since its creation; and what bench marks have been used. [160002]

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Miss Melanie Johnson: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Chief Executive of the Debt Management Office. I have asked him to reply.

Letter from Mike Williams to Mr. Andrew Tyrie, dated 3 May 2001:

The Economic Secretary to the Treasury has asked me to reply to Parliamentary Questions numbers 15,998, 15,999, 16,000, 16,001 and 16,002.

The increase in the Government's net short term cash position, represented by the relevant net short-term assets held on the Debt Management Account (DMA) which is managed by the Debt Management Office (DMO), was £13.4 billion in the course of the 2000-01 financial year (including a £0.5 billion cash deposit at the

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Bank of England) ¹ . The DMO did not acquire responsibility for managing the Exchequer cash position until 3 April 2000.

The amounts of specific classes of short-term assets that are bought by the DMO, are matters of commercial confidentiality between the DMO and its counterparties. For related reasons the DMO does not publish monthly totals of its short-term net cash position. However, paragraph 20 of the DMO's Exchequer Cash Management Operational Notice (dated 20 January 2000), as supplemented by the DMO's announcement of 12 September and 9 November 2000, list the range of financial instruments in which the DMO may transact. These are set out in the schedule attached.

All the DMO's market transactions flow through the DMA which came into operation in November 1999. The audited accounts for the DMA for the period to end March 2000 (including an income and expenditure account), will be published in due course.

¹ The details of the financing arithmetic outturn are available on the DMO web site www.dmo.gov.uk

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Schedule: Financial instruments in which the DMO may transact

	Basis of dealing
Outright purchases and sales
Gilt purchases(4)	Tenders and bilateral
Gilt strip purchases(4)	Tenders and bilateral
HMT bills	Tenders and bilateral
Selected eligible bank bills(4)	Bilateral
Certificates of Deposit (CDs)	Bilateral
Selected commercial paper (CP) selected bank Bills and other short-term debt issued by high Quality issuers, including supranationals and Foreign Governments(5)	Bilateral
	Purchases from the market for future resale ('reverse repo') and Sale to the market for future repurchase ('repo')
Instruments
Gilts (deliveries by value 'DBV' and General Collateral 'GC' including strips)	Tenders and bilateral
HMT bills	Tenders and bilateral
Non-Sterling HMT paper	Bilateral
Selected eligible bank bills	Bilateral
£ and other currency paper issued by high quality supranational and foreign government issuers	Bilateral
Other
Unsecured cash borrowing and lending	Bilateral

⁽⁴⁾ Less than six months to maturity

⁽⁵⁾ Less than 12 months

Note:

The DMO may also use short-term currency swaps, Forward Rate Agreements (FRAs) and interest rate futures to manage foreign currency and interest rate exposures. All foreign currency exposures will be hedged back into sterling.

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Economic Cycle

Mr. Redwood: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how he defines (a) boom and (b) bust in terms of GDP change quarter by quarter over a year. [159791]

Miss Melanie Johnson: I refer the right hon. Member to what the Prime Minister said to him in the Chamber on 25 April 2001, Official Report, column 301.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Peter Tatchell

Mr. Maude: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to his reply of 2 April 2001, Official Report, column 53W, on

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Mr. Tatchell, on what date the British Embassy in Brussels raised the matter with the Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs. [160091]

Mr. Wilson: Our Consul General at our Embassy in Brussels raised the matter with the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 16 March 2001. My reply of 2 April 2001, Official Report, column 53W, contained a typographical error--"Minister" should read "Ministry".

Mr. Maude: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to his answer of 2 April 2001, Official Report, column 53W, on Mr. Tatchell, if he will publish the representation made by the British Embassy in Brussels following the assault on Mr. Tatchell. [160090]

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Mr. Wilson: Our Consul-General in Belgium made clear our concerns at a senior level in the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a telephone call.

Helplines

Mr. Levitt: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what telephone helplines to assist the public are administered by his Department and its agencies. [159506]

Mr. Battle: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office operates two permanent telephone helplines designed to assist the public. The purpose of one is to give advice to UK citizens planning to travel overseas (Tel. [phone], Fax [phone] or 0164), the other gives visa advice for people planning to travel to the UK (Tel. [phone]). The information obtainable from both of these telephone helplines is also available on internet websites.

There is also an "Emergency Unit" telephone helpline which is brought into use whenever there is a large unplanned increase in telephone inquiries from member of the public--for example, an earthquake or widespread civil disorder at a popular overseas holiday destination.

EU Documents

Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement about the progress of the negotiations on public access to EU documents. [160593]

Mr. Vaz: After a year of difficult negotiations, the Commission, the Council and the European Parliament have all agreed in principle to a draft Regulation on public access to EU documents.

The UK's objectives for these negotiations were to secure a Regulation which ensures:

greater openness (ie more EU documents being made available to the public;

proper protection for sensitive material;

a quick, user-friendly mechanism;

a consistent approach both by the institutions and in member states;

compatibility with the UK Freedom of Information Act 2000.

All these objectives have been met and we now have an arrangement which we believe will be a firm step forward in EU openness. The Government welcome this: we have long been an advocate of greater openness in the EU institutions. More accessible documents make for more accountable institutions.

Nigeria

Mr. Gale: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports he has received from Nigeria concerning the impact of Sharia law in northern states on non-Muslims; and if he will make a statement. [159410]

Mr. Wilson: We continue to monitor closely the situation in northern Nigeria. Officials from the High Commission travel regularly to the region.

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Most Nigerian states' legislation introducing the Sharia penal code provides that it will not apply to non-Muslims unless they so choose. We understand this is generally respected. But we have seen some reports that churches have had difficulty in obtaining land to build on. We believe a very small number of non-Muslims may have been attacked by vigilante groups. We welcome the efforts of the Nigerian authorities to crack down on these groups.

Mr. Gale: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has made to the Nigerian authorities over the increase in violence against Christians in (a) Gombe, (b) Yobe, (c) Sokoto, (d) Borno and (e) other states of Nigeria. [159411]

Mr. Wilson: The root causes of much of the conflict in northern Nigeria are long-standing differences between ethnic groups. These differences are over a range of issues, including control of territory and resources, and are not primarily religious.

We welcome the efforts of the Nigerian authorities (both at federal and at state level), and of community groups, to reduce tension.

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