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Portable Antiquities Scheme

Mr. Swayne: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will make a statement about the future funding of the Portable Antiquities Scheme. [54806]

Dr. Howells: The Heritage lottery fund trustees met on 23 April to consider a bid for the three-year funding of a full network of finds liaison officers to cover the whole of England and Wales. The fund has now informed the scheme officials of the outcome, and will announce the details of its decision later this week.

Mr. Swayne: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what recent representations she has received regarding the future of the Portable Antiquities Scheme. [54807]

Dr. Howells: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and my right hon. and noble Friend the Minister for the Arts have received 19 letters commenting on the success of the Portable Antiquities Scheme, and calling for its long-term funding to be secured. Most of these representations have been submitted by metal detectorists.

National Lottery

Sue Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will make a statement on the distribution of the reserve funds for National Lottery good causes in the last two years; and if she will make a statement. [55015]

Mr. Caborn: Funds generated by the National Lottery for good causes are held in the National Lottery Distribution Fund (NLDF), until distributing bodies need to draw them down to meet expenditure incurred by grant recipients. Under Government accounting rules, and under their financial directions, distributing bodies may not draw down moneys from the NLDF in advance of need. Any interest earned on money held in the NLDF is added to the amount available for distribution to good causes.

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Commitments by distributing bodies collectively at 31 March 2002 totalled £4.12 billion, some £568 million more than was in the overall NLDF balance (£3.55 billion). This compares with commitments of £3.66 billion at 31 March 2001; £212 million more than the total NLDF balance at the same date (£3.45 billion).

Royal Parks Agency

Mr. Mark Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (1) if she will reserve a place for a representative of the Friends of Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens on the board of trustees of the new non-departmental public body which is to replace the Royal Parks Agency; [54994]

Dr. Howells: The board of trustees will comprise a number of trustees with different skills and experience. There will not be a specific trustee position on the board for a representative of the Friends of Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens. To reflect the parks' links with a variety of organisations, not just the Friends, a trustee post will be created titled 'Community Relations' which will be responsible for developing links with the whole community.

Ministerial Accommodation

Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what publicly owned accommodation is made available to her in her official role; how many nights she has been in residence at each of these properties in the last 12 months; and what the total cost was of maintaining each of these properties in the last 12 months. [55105]

Mr. Caborn: None.

NORTHERN IRELAND

Data Protection Act

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will place in the Library copies of each version of the internal guidance which have been drawn up by his Department since 1 January 1999 to assist staff in his Department to answer subject access requests under the Data Protection Act 1998. [53379]

Jane Kennedy: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer my hon. Friend the Member for North Swindon (Mr. Wills) gave to a question from my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Hall Green (Mr. McCabe) on 25 April 2002, Official Report, column 446W.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

EU-Israel Association Agreement

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to his answer of 21 January 2002, Official Report, column 583W, on the EU-Israel Association Agreement, what progress has been

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made in resolving the rules of origin issue under the EU-Israel Association; and whether the EU is reviewing its position on the continuance of the agreement. [45203]

Peter Hain: There have been further contacts between the EU and Israel with a view to resolving the rules of origin issue. These have not yet led to any significant progress. The EU has not changed its position on the continuation of the EU-Israel Agreement.

Chemical Weapons

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs which countries are the main contributors to the funding of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons; which of them are in arrears with their contributions; and by how much. [53458]

Mr. Bradshaw: The major contributors to the funding of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) amounting to approximately 70 per cent. of the OPCW's budget are: the United States (22 per cent.), Japan (20 per cent.), Germany (10 per cent.), France (7 per cent.), UK (6 per cent.) and Italy (5 per cent.). The UK, France and Italy have paid their contributions for 2002 in full. The United States and Germany usually make staged payments and have so far paid approximately 50 per cent. of their 2002 contributions. Japan is expected to pay the entire amount of its 2002 contribution around the middle of this year.

Cambodia

Mr. Kidney: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when he last met representatives of the Cambodian Government; and if he will make a statement on UK-Cambodian relations. [53392]

Mr. Bradshaw: Opportunities for British Ministers to meet representatives of the Cambodian Government are limited. Cambodia does not have an embassy in London and plays only a limited role internationally. The last Foreign Office Minister to meet representatives of the Cambodian Government was the late Derek Fatchett in May 1998 during a visit to Cambodia. But British officials are in regular contact with the Cambodian Government through our embassy in Phnom Penh. We are keen to enhance UK/Cambodian relations and the Foreign Secretary wrote to his Cambodian counterpart in November 2001 encouraging the Cambodian Government to re-establish an embassy in London.

International Terrorism

Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to his answer of 16 April 2002, Official Report, column 828–29W, on international terrorism, if he will list the UN member states which have not fulfilled the obligation to submit a report to the Counter-Terrorism Committee on terrorist financing and providing safe havens for terrorists. [53605]

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Mr. MacShane: As of 30 April 2002, 142 of the UN's 189 member states had submitted a report to the Counter- Terrorism Committee. The following 47 states had not:


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Information on which states have submitted reports can be obtained from the Counter-Terrorism Committee's website: http://www.un.org/docs/sc/committees/1373.

Government Information (Access)

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what his Department's target time is for completing internal reviews under the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information; when this target time was established; if he is aiming to improve this target time; and if he will make a statement. [53357]

Mr. MacShane: The FCO's target time for completing internal reviews under the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information is 20 working days. This target was established in 1997 and is in line with practice in other Government Departments. I have no present plans to deploy extra FCO staff and resources which are needed elsewhere to reduce this target time which I consider reasonable. Information on the FCO's response to requests and reviews under the code of practice is given in the monitoring report published by the Lord Chancellor's Department (LCD) in September 2001, available on their website or from them direct.

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