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Iraq

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports he has received about the causes of the bombing on 19 June of a football pitch at Tal A'far in Iraq; and if he will make a statement. [5018]

Mr. Bradshaw: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave and the answers my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence gave to my hon. Friend the Member

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for Glasgow, Kelvin (Mr. Galloway) on 25 June 2001, Official Report, columns 17W and 32W, and 19 July 2001, Official Report, columns 539–40.

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many holds on applications for imports to Iraq in the sanctions committee of the United Nations Security Council were lifted after (a) zero to three months, (b) three to six months, (c) six to nine months, (d) nine to 12 months and (e) more than one year. [5929]

Peter Hain: I will write to my hon. Friend shortly and place a copy of the letter in the Libraries of the House.

Adam Price: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when the Government will advocate lifting the economic sanctions imposed upon Iraq. [6403]

Mr. Bradshaw: UN sanctions on Iraq can only be lifted when Iraq complies with its obligations under Security Council resolutions, including on disarmament. To date, Iraq has refused to do so. Resolution 1284, a UK initiative, introduced the prospect of sanctions suspension, if Iraq co-operates with UN weapons inspectors to a standard well short of that required for sanctions lift. Again, Iraq refuses to engage. In an effort to alleviate the plight of the Iraqi people, the UK and US recently proposed changes to the sanctions regime. Under our proposals there would be no sanctions on ordinary imports, only controls on military and weapons-related goods. Despite widespread international support for this approach, the Security Council was unable to agree the details of the new arrangements earlier this month. But we remain serious about addressing the welfare needs of the Iraqi people and focusing controls on Iraq's weapons. We will continue to work for the adoption of the new approach as soon as possible.

Human Rights

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what UK representation will be at (a) the UN Human Rights conference in Geneva in July/August, (b) the UN conference on repression in South Africa in August/ September and (c) the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva in March/April 2002. [5920]

Peter Hain: I will write to my hon. Friend shortly and place a copy of the letter in the Libraries of the House.

Chagos Islands

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions have been held with representatives of the Chagos Islands since their visit to the UK. [5919]

Mr. Bradshaw: Since the visits of representatives of the Diego Garcia Island Council and the Chagos Refugee Group to London in April, officials in the British High Commission in Port Louis have had four meetings with Ilois representatives. There has also been a steady flow of correspondence between officials in London and Ilois representatives, and lawyers of Ilois representatives.

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Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what visits to the Chagos Islands have been made by UK officials in the last year; and what visits are planned in the current year. [5918]

Mr. Bradshaw: The Assistant Administrator of the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) visited in September 2000. There were monthly visits by MOD staff or military personnel to Diego Garcia and we expect that pattern to continue over the next year. We also expect that the Commissioner, Administrator and Assistant Administrator will make visits over the next 12 months.

Colombia

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent representations have been made to the Government of Colombia concerning Human Rights abuses and land ownership; and if he will make a statement. [5924]

Mr. MacShane: We have a regular and on-going dialogue with the Colombian Government about the human rights situation in Colombia. Most recently, British Embassy officials in Bogota raised our concerns about the vulnerability of the peace communities in the Department of Choco with the Human Rights Unit of the Vice Presidency's office (on 16 July 2001), and HM Ambassador wrote to the Vice Presidency on 4 July about the disappearance and murder of indigenous leaders in Cauca, expressing his concern and asking the Colombian authorities to investigate and prevent a repetition. In June 2001, the UK and its EU partners strongly supported the proposal of an expanded International Labour Organisation mandate and presence in Colombia to report on trade union rights and the security of trade union members to verify measures taken by the Colombian Government to protect them. This solution was fully endorsed by the Workers Group, the Colombian Government and all the other parties. We regularly discuss forced displacement and the problems it causes; we have made no recent representations to the Colombian Government specifically about land ownership.

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what has been the UK financial contribution to Plan Colombia; and what is planned in the current year. [5923]

Mr. MacShane: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Newport, West (Paul Flynn) on 9 July 2001, Official Report, column 351W.

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the total UK diplomatic and military presence is in Colombia for the latest available date. [5922]

Mr. MacShane: There are 30 UK Diplomatic and military staff accredited in Colombia. This includes the Defence Attaché, his two assistants and the Head of Security at the British Embassy. As at 18 July 2001, 22 of these staff were in Colombia; there are no other UK military personnel in Colombia.

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Malaysia

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations have been received from human rights groups concerning the Internal Security Act's operation in Malaysia. [5915]

Mr. Bradshaw: We have received no recent representations but regularly discuss human rights issues, including detentions under the Internal Security Act, with interested parties both in the United Kingdom and in Malaysia.

Zimbabwe

Mr. Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent representations he has made to the Zimbabwean High Commission in London regarding acts of violence and intimidation in Zimbabwe. [5998]

Mr. Bradshaw: My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary has not yet met Zimbabwe's High Commissioner to London. Baroness Amos met the High Commissioner on 26 June and had a wide ranging discussion about the situation in Zimbabwe including the state of the economy and our concerns.

Laos

Andy King: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports he has received from Laos about the persecution of Christians there; and if he will make a statement. [6395]

Mr. Bradshaw: The British Government are aware of reports of the detention and mis-treatment of Christians in Laos, a country where all group meetings without previous official sanction are illegal. We regularly raise our concerns about the situation of those imprisoned for their beliefs with the Lao Government: most recently with the Deputy Foreign Minister when he visited the UK in June.

Private Finance Initiative

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the economic penalties imposed on private sector firms in each of the last five years for failures to deliver in relation to key performance indicators in projects involving the Private Finance Initiative; and if he will make a statement. [5731]

Mr. MacShane: Penalties have been imposed in relation to two PFI contracts during the last five years. The details are commercially confidential.

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many PFI transactions have been overseen by his Department in each of the last 10 years; what his estimate is of the cost savings made in each of these transactions by comparison with the public sector alternative; what are the outstanding payments to be made in relation to these transactions for each of the next 15 years; and if he will make a statement. [5730]

Mr. MacShane: The FCO has overseen four PFI projects over the last 10 years. Details are as follows:

(i) 1996—electronic archive system (Minerva) at a cost saving of £140,000 over the public sector comparator.

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(ii) 1997—lease of official vehicles through a call-off contract available to posts overseas. Value for money is assessed on a case-by-case basis.

(iii) 1998—construction of the British Embassy in Berlin at a cost saving of £1.2 million over the public sector comparator.

(iv) 2000—establishment of FCO Telecommunications Network at a cost saving of £20.3 million over the public sector comparator.

Published guidance on public sector comparators notes that: "Accounting Officers should not rely solely on a straight comparison of a PFI bid to its PSC, which should never be regarded as a pass/fail test but instead as a quantitative way of informing judgment". (Treasury Taskforce Technical Note No. 5: How to construct a public sector comparator).

Details of individual payments to contractors under PFI contracts are usually regarded as commercially confidential. Aggregate figures of estimated payments under all PFI contracts for the years 2000–01—2025/26 were published in Table C18 of the Budget 2001 "Red Book".

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