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British Expatriates (Spain)

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to his answer of 28 January 2002, Official Report, column 36W, on British expatriates in Spain, what figures are held by the (a) Foreign Office and (b) the British Embassy in Spain, as to the number of UK nationals living permanently in Spain. [33125]

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Peter Hain: (a) None.

(b) For consular purposes, British nationals in Spain, whether visiting or permanently resident, may register their presence with the British embassy in Madrid, or the nearest British consulate. However, as registration is not compulsory, and few citizens choose to register, any figures derived from these registers would not be authoritative. Official Spanish figures therefore provide the best guide as to the number of British nationals resident in Spain.

Syria

Mr. Martyn Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on recent allegations made by Britain in the United Nations Sanctions Committee that Syria has violated UN sanctions on Iraqi oil. [32860]

Mr. Bradshaw: Regular media and oil industry reports have shown that in 2001 Syria suddenly began exporting an average of over 100,000 barrels of oil per day more than the previous year, without increasing its own domestic production. These reports have consistently attributed this to Syria's illegal import of large quantities of Iraqi oil through the Kirkuk-Banias pipeline connecting the two countries. 100,000 barrels per day is a significant amount of oil, worth at current prices about $260 million of humanitarian funding every six months. This is more than Iraq plans to spend on medicine or education under the current six-month phase of the humanitarian programme. The export of Iraqi oil, without seeking UN approval, would be a serious breach of UN resolutions 661 and 986. We have therefore sought Syrian assurances in the UN Sanctions Committee that they will make transparent the operation of this pipeline, bring it within the UN system and allow the revenue raised from it to benefit the Iraqi people rather than the Baghdad regime.

Kenya

Mr. Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make representations to the Kenyan Government about the imposition of import duties on goods being sent from the United Kingdom to aid street children; and if he will make a statement. [33053]

Mr. MacShane: Our High Commission in Nairobi has raised this issue with the Kenyan authorities. They are at this stage unwilling to grant an exemption for goods for charitable purposes. We will continue to raise the issue.

Golden Jubilee

Mr. Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what events (a) he is and (b) other Ministers in his Department are planning to attend as part of the golden jubilee celebrations; and what events his Department is planning to arrange to celebrate the golden jubilee. [33246]

Mr. Straw: It is still too early yet to be certain of what national events I, or other FCO Ministers, will be attending. I expect, however, to attend the national service of thanksgiving at St. Paul's cathedral on 4 June.

I will also be attending my county service of thanksgiving in Blackburn cathedral on Sunday 2 June.

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The Under Secretary, my hon. Friend the Member for Exeter (Mr. Bradshaw), plans to be in his Exeter constituency for the visit there by Her Majesty on 1 May.

Baroness Amos will attend the Commonwealth Day observance on 11 March (I shall be at the General Affairs Council in Brussels).

The FCO are sponsoring the tour of the Queen's golden jubilee baton through 20 Commonwealth countries. It will leave London on Monday 11 March, Commonwealth Day, and return to the UK on 5 June. Our posts overseas will arrange events and encourage publicity to support the baton's passage, supported by the local Commonwealth games associations and the British Council. We have also sponsored some aspects of the "Spirit of Friendship" festival associated with the 17th Commonwealth games in Manchester this summer, one of the high points of the jubilee.

Additionally, there will be eight open days from April to October when the FCO will be open to view by members of the public. It is one of the "String of Pearls" of historic public buildings that will be open to the public, along the banks of the Thames in central London.

We have issued general guidance to all our posts overseas on the celebrations of the golden jubilee. Many embassies and high commissions may use the occasion of the jubilee to enhance their regular Queen's Birthday Party. Missions will possibly hold additional events using publicity materials specifically prepared for the jubilee in the FCO, taking into account their local circumstances, and the Queen's desire that there should be no undue expenditure from public funds.

HEALTH

HIV

Gillian Merron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how he will ensure that priority is given to HIV prevention work after April. [28930]

Yvette Cooper: The Department will monitor investment in HIV prevention through the national health service performance assessment framework and through returns required under the AIDS (Control) Act 1987. This work will be underpinned by the proposed target to reduce by 25 per cent. the number of newly acquired HIV infections and gonorrhoea infections by the end of 2007, set out in the sexual health and HIV strategy.

Audiology Treatment

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients aged (a) 16 to 59, (b) 60 to 75 and (c) over 75 years have been waiting for (i) less than one year, (ii) more than one year and (iii) more than two years for a hearing test at (A) the Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust and (B) the Winchester and Eastleigh Healthcare NHS Trust by quarter in the last three years for which figures are available. [28844]

Ms Blears: Information is not available in the format requested centrally.

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North Staffordshire Health Authority

Mr. Stevenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the health spending per head of population was in the North Staffordshire health authority in (a) 1999–2000, (b) 2000–01, (c) 2001–02 and (d) estimated for 2002–03. [29269]

Yvette Cooper: Health spending per head of population in North Staffordshire health authority was £675.34 in 1999–2000 and £725.72 in 2000–01. Future estimates of spending are not available.

Notes:

1. In many health authorities there are factors which distort the expenditure per head. These include:

the health authority acting in a lead capacity to commission health care;

asset revaluations in NHS trusts being funded through health authorities; and

some double counting of expenditure between health authorities and primary care trusts within the health authority area.

Expenditure on health per head cannot therefore be reliably compared between health authorities.

Allocations per weighted head of population provide a much more reliable measure to identify differences between funding of health authorities.

2. Expenditure on health is taken from health authority and primary care trust summarisation forms which are prepared on a resource basis and therefore differ from cash allocations in the year. The expenditure is the total spent on the commission of health care by the health authority and by the primary care trusts within each health authority area. The majority of general dental services expenditure is not included in the health authority or primary care trust accounts and is separately accounted for by the Dental Practice Board.

3. Health authorities and primary care trusts should account for their expenditure on a gross basis. This results in an element of double counting where one body acts as the main commissioner and is then reimbursed by other bodies. The effect of this double counting within the answer cannot be readily identified.


Source:

Health authority audited summarisation forms 1999–2000 and 2000–01

Primary care trust audited summarisation schedules 2000–01

Weighted population estimates for 1999–2000 and 2000–01.

Arthur Andersen

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Health on how many of his Department's PFI contracts Arthur Andersen has been an adviser; and if he will make a statement. [31720]

Mr. Hutton: Of the 23 major private finance initiative projects that have reached financial close, Arthur Andersen were lead financial advisers on one—Bromley Healthcare NHS Trust. Bromley reached financial close in November 1998.

Arthur Andersen is not acting as lead financial adviser on any of the major PFI schemes currently in procurement. However, their legal arm, Andersen Legal, is acting for Stoke Mandeville NHS Trust on their scheme which is currently in procurement.

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