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Members of Parliament (Personal Data)

Mr. Forth: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what information is held by his Department on each hon. Member in relation to (a) personal relationships, both current and past, (b) financial status and dealings, (c) connections with companies and interest groups, (d) connections with Governments and (e) published works; and what was held in January 2002. [61821]

Mr. Straw: Ministers and officials in this Department have access to published reference sources, as well as to the information about hon. Members made publicly available by the House authorities, for the purpose of parliamentary business.

Kyoto Agreement

Mr. Tom Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with the Australian Prime Minister on his Government's decision not to sign the Kyoto Agreement. [61967]

Mr. MacShane: Since 5 June when the Australian Prime Minister said that Australia would not ratify the Kyoto protocol at the present time, my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary has not discussed this issue with him. A senior level meeting between British and Australian officials took place in Bonn last week at a UN Framework Convention on Climate Change meeting. The UK Government will continue to engage constructively with the Australian Government and with all our international partners on the issue of climate change.

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Departmental Grants

Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs which organisations which were in receipt of a grant from him in 1997–98 no longer are; what the annual saving is; which organisations which were not in receipt of a grant in 1997–98 now are; and what the annual cost is. [61392]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given him by my right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary of the Treasury on 17 June 2002, Official Report, column 137W.

Timber

Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent discussions he has had with the Government of Malaysia concerning the export of illegal timber products. [63057]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: Ministers from DFID and DEFRA and officials from the Forestry Commission have been party to a number of discussions with the Government of Malaysia this year on environmental and forestry issues including the export of illegal timber products.

Malaysia and the UK both participate in several international environmental fora where illegal logging and related forest issues are discussed at high level such as the Convention on Biodiversity and the United Nations Forum on Forests, which both held constructive meetings earlier this year. The UK was represented at ministerial level at both of these sets of discussions, by my hon. Friend the Member for Scunthorpe (Mr. Morley) (DEFRA) at the United Nations Forum on Forests and by my right hon. Friend the Member for Oldham, West and Royton (Mr. Meacher) (DEFRA) at the Convention on Biodiversity conference.

The Malaysian Minister for Primary Industries, the hon. Dato' Seri Dr. Lim Keng Yaik, visited the UN on 10 June 2002. During his visit, he met with two Ministers, my right hon. Friend the Member for Oldham, West and Royton (Mr. Meacher) (DEFRA) and my hon. Friend the Member for Northampton, North (Ms Keeble) (DfID), and discussed the illegal timber trade, certification schemes and related issues.

The UK is funding two projects that should contribute to the sustainable management of tropical forests in Malaysia through the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Environment Project Fund.

Bilateral Ministerial Meetings

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when Ministers in his Department have held meetings with Ministers and officials of the Irish Government since 1 June 2000; when and where each meeting took place; which Ministers were involved in each meeting; which Irish Government Departments were involved in each meeting; and which Ministers and officials from the Irish Government attended each meeting. [63075]

Peter Hain: FCO Ministers meet the Irish Foreign Minister regularly, eg in the margins of UN conferences (New York) and in the margins of EU Councils. My noble Friend Baroness Amos visited Dublin in July 2001, and the President of Ireland met my right hon. Friends the

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Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary after the funeral of HM the Queen Mother in London in May. In addition, the Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Northern Ireland have regular contacts with the Taoiseach and other Irish Ministers, most recently at the British Irish Council in Jersey on 14 June.

India-Pakistan

Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what support was given by the United Kingdom to the United States during the recent peacekeeping mission to the India-Pakistan border. [62705]

Mr. MacShane [holding answer 19 June 2002]: We are very concerned about the situation on the India- Pakistan border. We continue to work closely with the United States and other partners on all initiatives for easing the tension in the region.

Zimbabwe

Barbara Follett: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on charging for consular and visa services in Zimbabwe, in the light of the divergence in the official and parallel rates of exchange in that country. [64093]

Mr. MacShane: Since July 2000, the British high commission has been running its sterling post account using the parallel rate of exchange, and charging for some of its consular and visa services using the parallel rate. It has held charges for other consular and visa services at the official rate. Initially, the two rates were broadly similar. But since February 2001, the parallel rate has diverged increasingly from the official rate, and the Zimbabwe dollar is now trading on the parallel market at around 10 times the official sterling rate of exchange. In financial year 2001–02, this resulted in an under-recovery by the FCO of around £422,000 in consular fees.

In order to regularise the position, and avoid any future shortfalls in recovery, the British high commission will charge for all consular and visa services at the parallel exchange rate, with effect from midnight on 23/24 June.

Heroin

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what changes have been recorded in the availability of street heroin in the EU since the removal of the Taliban regime. [63337]

Mr. MacShane: General analysis of drugs markets suggests that changes at source take 12–18 months to have an impact on street level availability. In the first quarter of 2002 there were indications of heroin shortages in some member states, but in others no significant changes were reported. In the UK some local shortages of heroin have been accompanied by price rises and reductions in purity, but there is no indication of a widespread shortage or of a general upward trend in prices.

International Travel Ban

Mr. Spring: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what procedures are in place

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to monitor whether a person, subject to an international travel ban by either the EU or the United States, transits via a UK port en route to another destination. [62165]

Beverley Hughes [holding answer 17 June 2002]: I have been asked to reply.

We are not aware of any nationals, subject to a travel ban, passing through the United Kingdom to other countries. But at major United Kingdom airports, only passengers who present themselves at the immigration control seeking entry while in transit would come to the attention of the Immigration Service. Many others will remain airside and travel on in direct transit to their destinations without seeking leave to enter the United Kingdom.

The United Kingdom Immigration Service is responsible for enforcing the travel bans. Immigration officers at ports have been instructed not to grant entry to those identified as being on the ban lists.

SCOTLAND

Flexible Working

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many and what proportion of the staff of her Department are (a) job sharing, (b) term working and (c) engaged in another form of flexible working. [42426]

Mrs. Liddell: My Department currently has four members of staff employed in a total of two job-share positions. There are no staff on term working.

My Department operates a flexible working hours scheme.

Staff Numbers

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many staff have been employed by her Department in each of the last 10 years. [42457]

Mrs. Liddell: The Scotland Office was established in its present form on 1 July 1999. Since that date my Department has employed the following staff:

Year	Average number of staff
1999–2000	70
2000–01	94
2001–02	109

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