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Exercise Saif Sareea 2

Mr. Swayne: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what instructions he gave to joint chiefs of staff not to proceed with exercise Saif Sareea 2; and if he will make a statement. [19375]

Mr. Hoon: None. The Ministry of Defence regularly reviews its forward programme and re-evaluates all commitments in the defence plan to ensure that they represent good value for money. Given its scale and importance, Exercise Saif Sareea 2 was kept under particularly careful review to ensure that it met this criteria and the armed forces training requirements. In the early part of 2000 a number of options for the exercise were investigated as part of this process. The review confirmed the importance of carrying out an exercise on this scale and at this distance from the UK. Recent events have proved this to be the case.

Afghanistan

Mr. Nicholas Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the (a) number and (b) nature of the casualties sustained among British armed forces in Afghanistan. [19082]

Mr. Hoon: I can confirm that four service personnel were wounded on operations in Afghanistan, one seriously. They are all now back in the UK receiving treatment.

PRIME MINISTER

E-democracy

Mr. Anthony D. Wright: To ask the Prime Minister what plans he has to further e-democracy. [20086]

29 Nov 2001 : Column: 1056W

The Prime Minister: I have asked my right hon. Friend the President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons to chair a new Cabinet Committee on e-democracy. The composition and terms of reference of the new committee are:

















Pledge to British Muslims

Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Prime Minister if he (a) instructed or (b) agreed to the Cabinet secretary signing the pledge to British Muslims; and if he will make a statement. [15120]

The Prime Minister: The secretary of the Cabinet signed the pledge as head of the home civil service because he thought it particularly important at this time to reassure Muslims and those of different faiths within the civil service through a positive statement of this kind. Diversity is an important part of the agenda for the reform of the civil service. He believed it to be a non- controversial statement put forward by a well-established organisation affiliated to the Muslim Council of Britain and he understood that it had the support of all the main political parties. He did not act under instruction.

Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Prime Minister when he was invited by the Islamic Society of Britain to sign their pledge to British Muslims; when a text for the pledge was first communicated to him; when he agreed to sign; and whether the text first communicated to him was that which was signed on his behalf. [15121]

The Prime Minister: It is not our practice to give details on such matters. The Deputy Prime Minister signed it on the Government's behalf and all three main political parties were represented at the launch of the pledge.

Pledge

Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Prime Minister if he will list the pledges signed by (a) the holder of the office of Cabinet secretary and (b) himself since 1 May 1997. [15119]

29 Nov 2001 : Column: 1057W

The Prime Minister: No record of pledges is kept. I signed a variety of expressions of support, as previous Prime Ministers have done before me.

Successive secretaries of the Cabinet, as head of the home civil service, have made public commitments to the continued reform of the civil service and to particular aspects of it.

Suez Medal

Bob Spink: To ask the Prime Minister what plans he has to issue a Suez medal for service between 1951 and 1954. [18177]

The Prime Minister: The Committee on the Grant of Honours, Decorations and Medals which advises Her Majesty the Queen on the issue of such medals has not made any recommendation on this issue. But I am sure it will consider any representations the hon. Member may wish to make on this matter.

International Crime Tribunal

Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Prime Minister what representations he has made to the United Nations Security Council to establish an international criminal tribunal to try the perpetrators of the attacks on 11 September; and if he will make a statement. [18851]

The Prime Minister: International criminal courts or tribunals are not a substitute for national jurisdictions, and never have been. They are there to take action against individuals who have committed crimes for which a relevant national jurisdiction is unable or unwilling to take action. That does not apply in this case. The United States has every justification to try those responsible for the attacks in its own country.

Decommissioning (IRA)

Rev. Martin Smyth: To ask the Prime Minister if he will request from the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning the inventory of the weapons decommissioned by the IRA. [18861]

The Prime Minister: On 23 October the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning reported that it had witnessed a quantity of IRA arms being put beyond use. It confirmed the material in question includes arms, ammunition and explosives.

However, in the interest of furthering the decommissioning process, the Commission declined to provide further details. We all must respect the Commission's own judgment on how best to proceed to fulfill its mandate, the decommissioning of all paramilitary arms.

I look forward to further progress on the arms issue alongside the full implementation of the Good Friday Agreement, and the long-term stability of the Northern Ireland political institutions.

29 Nov 2001 : Column: 1058W

Saif Sareea 2

Mr. Swayne: To ask the Prime Minister what discussions he had with the joint chiefs of the defence staff regarding (a) possible cancellation of and (b) reduction in the scope of exercise Saif Sareea 2. [19376]

The Prime Minister: None.

TRANSPORT, LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND

THE REGIONS

Rail Regulator

Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what plans he has to change the powers of the Rail Regulator. [15502]

Mr. Byers [holding answer 16 November 2001]: We intend to streamline the existing structure while still recognising that there will be a continued need for some form of independent economic regulation.

Eurostar

Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what track access charges have been paid by Eurostar for use of tracks (a) between Waterloo and the Channel Tunnel, (b) within the Channel Tunnel, (c) on French rail lines and (d) on Belgian rail lines, for each year since the commencement of operations. [15950]

Mr. Jamieson: The Track Access Charges for Eurostar services are commercially sensitive and cannot therefore be made public.

Track Access Charges in France and Belgium are not paid by Eurostar (UK) Ltd. but are dealt with by their business partners, SNCF and SNCB.

Car Ownership (Buckingham)

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions how many people owned a car in the Buckingham constituency in the last year for which information is available. [17846]

Mr. Jamieson: The Department has no information on the number of people owning cars in the Buckingham constituency. The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency record shows that the number of currently licensed cars registered to keepers in the Buckingham constituency at December 2000 was 44,899.

Registered Social Landlords

Ms Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions how many (a) council and (b) Registered Social Landlord (RSL) properties there are where the target rents are below current rents at current prices; and how many and what percentage of (i) council and (ii) RSL properties there are in each English region where the target rent is at or below current rents at current prices. [17824]

Ms Keeble: The information is not currently available. Social landlords will only have completed their property valuations and calculated their target rents under the reforms around the end of this calendar year.

29 Nov 2001 : Column: 1059W

Ms Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will estimate the number and percentage of (a) council and (b) RSL rents scheduled to fall as a result of his policy to restructure rents in (i) England and (ii) each region. [17825]

Ms Keeble: The information is not available in the form requested. In particular, the figures critically depend on assumptions about what would have happened to rents in the absence of restructuring.

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