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Wine
Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how much (a) UK produced wine and (b) wine produced by the rest of the world, broken down by value and volume, UK embassies world wide have provided in the last year. [52613R]
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Mr. MacShane: Our Posts overseas are not required to keep such information and it could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how much (a) UK produced wine and (b) wine produced by the rest of the world, broken down by value and volume, Government hospitality departments have provided in the last 12 months. [52611R]
Mr. MacShane: Government Hospitality Section of Conference and Visits Group provides hospitality services to all Government departments. In the financial year 2001–02 Government Hospitality used approximately 1,100 bottles of English and Welsh wines at a cost of around £4, 600.
During the same period Government Hospitality used approximately 6,850 bottles of wine from other countries. It is not possible to give a meaningful breakdown by value of these wines.
Council of the European Union
Mrs. Humble: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the forthcoming business in the Council of the European Union for May; and if he will list the major European Union events for the period between 31 May and October. [54007]
Peter Hain: The information is as follows:
- 7 May—ECOFIN—Brussels
- 1. Adoption of the Agenda
- 2. Approval of the list of "A" items
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- 3. Broad economic policy guidelines
- Commission recommendation
- 4. Directives and reports in the financial services area
- Market Abuse
- Political agreement
- Financial holdings
- Political agreement
- 5. (poss.) Taxation of energy
- Council conclusions
- 6. Preliminary draft Community budget for 2003
- 7. (poss.) Recasting of the Financial Regulation
- 8. Other business
- 2—Washington—EU/US Summit
- 3–4—Brussels—Tourism Council (Ministerial Informal)
- 6—Brussels—Eurogroup (Evening)
- 8—Toledo—EU/Canada Summit
- 13—Brussels—General Affairs Council and Defence Ministers Meeting
- 17–18—Madrid—EU/Latin America and Caribbean Summit
- 21—Brussels—Internal Market, Consumers and Tourism Council
- 23—Brussels—Culture and Audio-visual Council
- 23–24—Brussels—Convention on the Future of Europe—Plenary Session
- 24–26—Palma de Mallorca—Environment Council (Ministerial Informal)
- 27–28—Brussels—Agriculture Council
- 30—Brussels—Development Council
- 30—Brussels—Education and Youth Council
- 31–1—Brussels—Transport Council (Ministerial Informal)
The following are the principal events in the EU between 1 June and October 2002 (certain relevant events are also included: the list is based on the information available at the date of issue).
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US Co-operation (International Appointments)
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent discussions he has had with the US Government with regard to appointments to international bodies with specific reference to (a) the control of chemical weapons and (b) global warming. [52320]
Mr. Bradshaw [holding answer 26 April 2002]: My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary had a discussion with the US Secretary of State Colin Powell on the position of the Director General of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) at the end of March. There have been further discussions at official level on the matter.
My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs discussed the chairmanship of the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) earlier this month in Washington. Since then the subject has been discussed on further occasions at official level with members of the US Administration.
Bhutan
Andy King: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent reports he has received concerning the treatment of Christians in Bhutan; and if he will make a statement. [53074]
Mr. Bradshaw: We have received occasional NGO reports suggesting mistreatment of Christians in Bhutan, and have expressed our concern to the Bhutanese Government that the right to choose, declare, and practice one's religion should be respected.
Chechnya
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations
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he has made to the Russian authorities to register officially displaced Chechen persons in the republics neighbouring Chechnya. [53056]
Mr. Bradshaw: We have not made any recent representations to the Russian Government about this issue. The main focus of our dialogue has been the human rights situation in Chechnya. However, the UK has supported a Council of Europe project aimed at speeding up the registration process and the issue of identity cards to Chechen internally displaced persons.
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent representations he has made and to whom for an independent international inquiry into violations of human rights and international humanitarian law in Chechnya. [53055]
Mr. Bradshaw: The UK has not called for an international inquiry into allegations of human rights violations in Chechnya. Instead, we have, with our EU partners, pressed the Russian Government to establish, in accordance with recognised international standards, a national, broad-based and independent commission of inquiry to investigate alleged violations of human rights and breaches of international humanitarian law committed in the republic. We last raised this in mid-April at the 58th Session of the UN Commission on Human Rights in Geneva.
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