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General Pinochet

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what monitoring of the legal proceedings against General Pinochet in Chile is being undertaken by his Department. [1051]

Mr. MacShane: Our Embassy in Santiago is keeping the Department informed of developments in the legal proceedings against General Pinochet.

Diego Garcia

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions his Department has held with the US Government concerning the right of return of the Ilois people to Diego Garcia. [1053]

Mr. Bradshaw: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer the then Minister of State, my hon. Friend the Member for Leicester, East (Mr. Vaz), gave to him on 26 April 2001, Official Report, columns 337-38W.

Ministerial Responsibilities

Mr. Spring: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry regarding the responsibilities of the Minister for Trade. [850]

Mr. Straw: Under exemption 2 of Part II of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information, information about internal discussions is not disclosed.

Future of Europe

Mr. Spring: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what plans he has to launch the UK consultation process for the Future of Europe debate. [851]

Peter Hain: There is already a lively UK debate on the future of Europe. The Government welcome this. As the Prime Minister said in Warsaw in October 2000, the challenge now is to reform the EU so that it delivers real benefits to the people of Europe, addressing the priorities they want addressed; and does so in a way which has their consent and support.

A number of Government initiatives have already been taken to sustain and develop this debate:

The Prime Minister's Warsaw speech laid out the overall approach of the UK Government, inviting others to contribute to the debate. Ministers have regularly addressed EU issues in media appearances and contacts with the public.

The EU section of the Foreign Office website has made available a substantial amount of material on the EU and the UK's place in it, and hosts regular online debates on topical EU issues.

The Government have held a series of parliamentary debates on the EU. There will be further such opportunities as Parliament considers the Bill to ratify the Nice Treaty.

The Government have organised or sponsored a number of public events to solicit the views of academics, civil society and the general public.

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The Government's efforts to provide information and seek the public's views will continue in the coming months.

"Your Britain, Your Europe"

Mr. Spring: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what plans he has to continue the "Your Britain, Your Europe" campaign; and what budget has been set for this initiative. [852]

Peter Hain: The FCO will continue to meet its public service commitment to inform the UK public about the EU. The costs of this will be met from within the FCO's central budget.

Middle East

Mr. Spring: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he discussed the proposals for peace in the middle east put forward by the director of the CIA during his recent visit to Gothenburg. [853]

Mr. Bradshaw: Ongoing efforts to build on the fragile ceasefire in the middle east featured prominently in discussion at both the EU-US summit on 14 June and the European Council on 15-16 June in Gothenburg. The UK welcomes the agreement by the parties to CIA Director Tenet's proposals for consolidating the ceasefire, and making progress on security issues. It is now essential that the ceasefire and further security measures be followed swiftly by work on confidence-building measures and the renewal of a political process, which together form the complete package of the recommendations of the Mitchell Committee.

Ballistic Missile Defence

Mr. Spring: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with representatives of the EU and the US on the issue of ballistic missile defence; and if he will make a statement. [854]

Mr. Bradshaw: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State discussed issues related to ballistic missile defence with his US and other NATO counterparts at the special meeting of the North Atlantic Council on June 13. Alliance leaders welcomed the extensive programme of consultations undertaken by the US on how best to counter the emerging threat posed by the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their missile delivery systems.

Rebuttal Unit

Mr. Spring: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the status of his Department's rebuttal unit on EU issues. [856]

Peter Hain: Government Ministers will continue to write letters aimed at correcting press articles on Europe which are misleading and/or factually inaccurate, just as they would do on any other issue.

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Macedonia

Mr. Spring: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he had during his recent visit to Gothenburg regarding the situation in Macedonia. [857]

Mr. MacShane: My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary has wide-ranging discussions on Macedonia with colleagues both during the European Council and the preceding EU/US summit in Gothenburg. The European Council decided to appoint a high level EU representative to be resident in Macedonia under the authority of EU High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy, Javier Solana. The Conclusions of the Gothenburg Council, including the Declaration on the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (Annexe II), were placed in the Library of the House on Monday 18 June.

Nice Treaty

Mr. Spring: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on (a) the conclusions of the Gothenburg Summit as they relate to the Irish referendum on the Nice treaty and (b) how the process of enlargement will be pursued. [858]

Peter Hain: The 11 June General Affairs Council expressed regret at the result of the Irish referendum on the Treaty of Nice, while respecting the will of the Irish people. The GAC noted that the Irish Government are deeply and firmly committed to the EU and to the ratification of the Treaty of Nice. The Fourteen expressed their readiness to contribute in every possible way to help the Irish Government find a way forward, taking into account the concerns reflected by this result, without reopening the text of the Nice treaty.

The Gothenburg European Council confirmed these conclusions, and reaffirmed that the ratification process for the Treaty of Nice will continue so that the Union is in a position to welcome new member states from the end of 2002.

Heads of State and Government also agreed that, provided progress towards meeting the accession criteria continues at an unabated pace, the enlargement road map should make it possible to complete negotiations by the end of 2002 for those candidate countries that are ready. The objective is that they should participate in the 2004 European Parliament elections as members.

Ministerial Meetings (Europe)

Mr. Spring: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what meetings he has had since his appointment with (a) the President of the European Commission and (b) representatives of the forthcoming Belgian EU Presidency; and if he will make a statement. [859]

Peter Hain: At the General Affairs Council of 11-12 June and the Gothenburg European Council of 15-16 June, the Secretary of State had useful discussions with the President of the Commission and with the Belgian Foreign Minister. The Secretary of State also held a bilateral meeting with the Belgian Foreign Minister in London on 26 June: they discussed a range of issues likely

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to feature during the forthcoming Belgian Presidency of the European Union. I have also held bilateral talks with my Belgian counterpart to discuss Presidency issues.

Qualified Majority Voting

Mr. Spring: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if it remains the Government's policy that qualified majority voting should not be extended to border controls, defence, taxation, social security, own resources matters and treaty amendments. [956]

Peter Hain: As our manifesto made clear, we shall keep the veto on vital matters of national sovereignty.

HEALTH

Tuberculosis

Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the need to empower hospitals to restrict the movement of infectious in-patients suffering from TB; and if he will make a statement. [59]

Yvette Cooper: The Department of Health has published recommendations on the requirement for managing patients--including isolation--with tuberculosis and drug resistant tuberculosis in two documents. One was published in June 1996 entitled "Recommendations for the prevention and control of tuberculosis at local level" and, again, in September 1998 recommendations were made in the document entitled "UK guidance on the prevention and control of transmission of HIV-related tuberculosis and Drug-resistant, including Multiple Drug-resistant tuberculosis". Both of these publications are available in the Library.

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