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Oman
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when he next plans to visit Oman. [64822]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary has no plans to visit Oman.
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Zimbabwe
Mr. Peter Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps are being taken to protect the interests of United Kingdom nationals engaged in legal action in Zimbabwe. [65244]
Mr. MacShane: Our consular staff in Harare will provide support and assistance where they properly can, but in all such cases, as elsewhere in the world, British citizens are advised to seek local legal advice on how best to pursue their case.
Iraq
Mrs. Mahon: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the medicines and medical equipment that are on the dual use list of banned imports to Iraq. [65558]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: There is no list of banned imports to Iraq. The Goods Review List, introduced by UN resolution 1409, contains dual-use items whose export to Iraq is subject to UN Security Council approval. It is not a denial list. Before approving Goods Review Listed items for export, the UN Sanctions Committee, drawing on expert advice from the UN Monitoring Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) and the IAEA, will decide whether the military risk of allowing the Iraqi regime to have the listed items outweighs their humanitarian benefits. The Goods Review List is a publicly accessible document, the contents of which are available on the UN website at www.un.org/Departments/ oip/index.html.
Mrs. Mahon: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if the United Nations organisations in Iraq are present on the same basis as they routinely operate in countries where there is a non- military UN presence. [65557]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: United Nations organisations are present in Iraq in support of the UN's Oil for Food humanitarian programme. FAO, UNICEF, UNDP and WHO also operate country programmes, as they do elsewhere.
Mrs. Mahon: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the purpose for which each United Nations-related organisation is present in Iraq. [65556]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: United Nations-related organisations are present in Iraq for the following purposes:
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Support to the UN Oil for Food programme:
- WFP (food sector)
WHO (health, nutrition, water and sanitation sectors)
FAO (agriculture sector)
UNDP (electricity sector)
UNICEF (education, nutrition, health sectors)
UNESCO (education sector)
UNOPS (demining, water and sanitation sectors)
Habitat (housing, resettlement sectors)
ITU (telecommunications sector)
UNGCI (security for UN personnel in northern Iraq).
Country programmes:
Monitoring the demilitarized zone along the Iraq- Kuwait border.
British Nationals (Prisoners)
Mr. Pope: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on when it is Her Majesty's Government's policy to support officially a plea for clemency on compassionate grounds from a British national imprisoned overseas. [67699]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: Decisions on whether to support an application for clemency are taken at ministerial level. When considering an application for clemency on compassionate grounds, Ministers will, as a general rule, mirror the policy applied by the UK prison services when considering applications for early release on compassionate grounds submitted by prisoners in the UK. Each application for support will be considered on its merits on a case- by-case basis.
Ministers would not normally support a plea for clemency on compassionate grounds if a Prisoner Transfer Agreement exists between the UK and the sentencing state and a transfer to the UK could be completed within a reasonable time frame. In such circumstances, any request for early or temporary release on compassionate grounds could then be made to the appropriate UK prison authority.
DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER
Public Appointments
Keith Vaz: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will list the public appointments he has made since 7 June 2001. [66365]
Mr. McNulty: Since 7 June last year Ministers have made the following appointments or re-appointments to the non-departmental public bodies currently sponsored by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.
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Mayoral Management
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister whether local authorities must first obtain the consent of their electorate by a referendum before they proceed to a mayoral management system. [65996]
Mr. Raynsford: The Local Government Act 2000 specifies three models of executive arrangements, two of which involve a directly elected mayor. The Act, together with regulations made under it, provides that if a local authority proposes to move to or from either of the mayoral models, they must first obtain the consent of their local electorate in a referendum.
Elected Mayors
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister which authorities have indicated that they wish to proceed to elected mayors. [65995]
Mr. Raynsford: To date, 28 local authorities have held referendums under the Local Government Act 2000 on whether or not to adopt executive arrangements that
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involve a directly elected mayor. Eleven of these referendums produced a result in favour of a system with an elected mayor. Of these, seven (Doncaster, Hartlepool, Lewisham, Middlesbrough, Newham, North Tyneside, and Watford) held their first mayoral election on 2 May this year, and the remaining four (Bedford, Hackney, Mansfield, and Stoke-on-Trent) will hold their first mayoral election on 17 October 2002. Corby borough council have also recently advised us that they will be holding a mayoral referendum later this year, following receipt of a valid local petition.
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