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Zimbabwe

Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what discussions her Department has had with the Government of South Africa regarding food imports to Zimbabwe. [93859]

Clare Short: My Department has regular discussions with South African officials on the humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe. We have also been monitoring the progress of negotiations between the World Food Programme (WFP) and the Government of South Africa. WFP is at an advanced stage of negotiation with the Government of South Africa regarding a gift of £100,000 metric tons of maize from South Africa to countries in the region suffering food shortages. The amount for distribution to individual countries is still to be determined, but WFP would wish to distribute over 50 per cent. of the total to Zimbabwe.

Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what discussions she is having with the Government of South Africa regarding the political situation in Zimbabwe. [93861]

Clare Short: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave her on 22 January 2003, Official Report, column 317W).

Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what her latest assessment is of the number of people facing food shortages in Zimbabwe. [93973]

Clare Short [holding answer 29 January 2003]: The SADC Vulnerability Assessment Committee report of December 2002 estimated that the total number of people in need of food assistance in Zimbabwe had risen to 7.2 million. Of these, the World Food Programme (WFP) aims to reach 5.8 million. Other humanitarian assistance is provided through the Government of Zimbabwe, and bilateral support direct to non-governmental organisations in addition to donor help through the WFP. The UK bilateral programme alone is reaching 1.5 million people; 1 million of these are children receiving supplementary feeling in schools, with the remainder comprising particularly vulnerable adults (for example people in the district of Binga), pregnant women, and the elderly.

SOLICITOR-GENERAL

Departmental Expenditure (Newsprint)

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Solicitor General what the total expenditure of her Department was on newspapers, magazines and periodicals in 2002. [90526]

The Solicitor-General [holding answer 16 January 2003]: The Departments for which I hold ministerial responsibility account for expenditure on these items differently. In particular, accounting for periodicals in Treasury Solicitor's Department include subscriptions to legal journals and updates on loose-leaf specialist legal publications.

The expenditure of my own Department, the Legal Secretariat to the Law Officers, for the financial year 2001–02 was £3,335.30.

30 Jan 2003 : Column 974W

The total expenditure for the Crown Prosecution Service on newspapers, magazines and periodicals from January to December 2002 was £148,582.

The expenditure by the Serious Fraud Office for the financial year 2001–02 was £10,143.85.

The expenditure by the Treasury Solicitor's Department for the period April to December 2002 was £2,200 on newspapers and magazines and £112,175 on subscriptions—making a total of £114,375.

HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate for the same period was £3,350. This was on periodicals and professional journals; there was no expenditure on newspapers.

Eurobank

Mr. Hawkins: To ask the Solicitor-General what costs have been incurred by her Department during and arising from the collapse of the Eurobank case; and if she will make a statement. [94407]

The Solicitor-General: None. I refer the hon. Member to the reply given by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

R v. McKay

Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Solicitor-General when she will provide a substantive reply to the hon. Member for the Isle of Wight concerning R v. McKay. [93705]

The Solicitor-General: The Attorney General provided a substantive reply to the hon. Member for the Isle of Wight concerning R v. McKay, on 29 January 2003.

Theft/Fraud

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Solicitor-General what her estimate is of the cost of theft and fraud to (a) her Department, (b) its agencies and (c) non-departmental public bodies in 2002. [89863]

The Solicitor-General [holding answer 13 January 2003]: The figures for the Departments for which I hold ministerial responsibility account are as follows:

The Legal Secretariat to the Law Officers—nil;


HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate—£516;


Treasury Solicitor's Department—nil;


Crown Prosecution Service—£3,217; and


Serious Fraud Office—£85.

TRADE AND INDUSTRY

Agency Workers Directive

Mr. Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what recent discussions she has had with her European counterparts concerning the agency workers directive; and if she will make a statement on her Department's policy on the proposed legislation in its present form. [93395]

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Alan Johnson: The proposed directive was recently discussed in the European Union Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council on 3 December 2002, where I represented the United Kingdom. The Department of Trade and Industry has published an explanatory memorandum about the European Commission's revised proposal which sets out the Government's policy on the proposed directive. I have placed a copy of this in the Libraries of the House.

Alenia Marconi Systems

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what export control licence applications were received from Alenia Marconi Systems in the last five years; and what was the outcome of each of these applications. [93459]

Nigel Griffiths [holding answer 27 January 2003]: Details of all relevant export licences issued and refused since 2 May 1997 are published by destination in the Government's Annual Report on Strategic Export Controls, copies of which are placed in the Libraries of the House.

Call Centre Scripts

Mr. Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry pursuant to her answer to the hon. Member for North-East Derbyshire (Mr. Barnes), of 16 January, Official Report, column 806, if she will list the call centre scripts that she has gone through. [93857]

Ms Hewitt: The Minister of State for E-Commerce and Competitiveness and I have seen the original DWP and Inland Revenue call centre scripts.

Construction Industry

Mr. Swayne: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what recent representations she has received about the practice of retentions in the construction industry; and if she will make a statement. [94221]

Mr. Wilson: The hon. Member may be aware that the Trade and Industry Select Committee has recently published the findings of its inquiry into the use of retentions in the construction industry.

I welcome these and I am pleased that the committee has broadly supported the Government's approach to improving UK construction performance through "Rethinking Construction" and "Accelerating Change". Issues of fair payment and quality, defect-free work are fundamental to the continued success of the UK construction industry.

The Department of Trade and Industry intends to respond to the Select Committee's recommendations on behalf of the Government by Tuesday 4 February. It would not be appropriate for me to comment on the Select Committee's recommendations before the Committee has had the opportunity to consider my response.

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Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation)

Mr. Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what proposals there are to extend anti-discrimination law to cover discrimination in employment and training on grounds of sexual orientation. [93485]

Alan Johnson: The Government are committed to introduce new legislation (implementing the Article 13 Employment Directive) to outlaw unfair discrimination at work and in training on grounds of sexual orientation by December 2003.

Our plans were published on 23 October 2002 in the consultation document 'Equality and Diversity: The Way Ahead'. Consultation ended on 24 January. We will consider responses before laying regulations before Parliament later in the year.

Mr. Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what proposals she has under the Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003 to allow unmarried partners to leave their pensions to their surviving partner of either sex when they die. [93484]

Alan Johnson: We consulted on proposals to implement the employment directive in the document 'Equality and Diversity: The Way Ahead'. In our view, rules which restrict benefits to opposite sex partners—whether or not they are married to the pension holder—are likely to constitute unlawful discrimination.

Because the directive is 'without prejudice to national laws on marital status and the benefits dependent thereon' however, we proposed that benefits aimed exclusively at married couples would continue to be allowable.

The consultation ended on 24 January. We will consider responses before laying the regulations before Parliament later in the year.

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