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Gibraltar

Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if it is his policy to separate the sovereignty over military interests in Gibraltar from the sovereignty of Gibraltar as a whole. [98203]

Mr. MacShane: I refer the hon. Member to the statement made by my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary in this House on 12 July 2002, Official Report, column 1165.

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Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if it is his policy to withdraw the proposals for shared sovereignty of Gibraltar that he set out in his statement of 12 July 2002. [98204]

Mr. MacShane: The Government's position remains that set out by my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary in his statement of 12 July 2002, Official Report, column 1165. As we have consistently made clear, any proposals that would affect the sovereignty of Gibraltar would be put to its people in a referendum and they would decide.

Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with the Spanish Government about Gibraltar since 7 November 2002; and if he will list the topics discussed. [98205]

Mr. MacShane: My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary has had several discussions with his Spanish counterpart on a range of issues since 7 November 2002. None of these concentrated on Gibraltar. I met the Spanish Minister for Europe on 10 February. We discussed a number of issues, including Gibraltar.

Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make it his policy that change to the sovereignty of Gibraltar will only be agreed by the Government after the majority of the people of Gibraltar have consented to the proposed change. [98206]

Mr. MacShane: I refer the hon. Member to the answers given on this matter by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister on 6 November 2002, Official Report, column 279.

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what plans he has to uprate the value of pensions payable to Spanish pensioners who worked in Gibraltar prior to 1969. [98420]

Mr. MacShane: Under an agreement between the British and Spanish Governments in 1996, payments to all previous Gibraltar Social Insurance Fund contributors were fixed at 100% of accrued rights at 1988 levels and HMG assumed responsibility for payments to those not resident in Gibraltar. There are no plans to change this agreement.

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the responsibilities of Gibraltar Community Care Limited in offering charitable assistance to elderly people resident in Gibraltar. [98421]

Mr. MacShane: Community Care was established in 1989 as a private charitable organisation with the objective of performing a range of charitable functions for elderly people living in Gibraltar, including assistance in meeting household costs which are particularly high in Gibraltar. Community Care has received substantial funding from the Government of Gibraltar.

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on his assessment of relations with the Government of Spain; what representations he has received from the

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Government of Spain since 7th November 2002; and when he plans to discuss with the Government of Spain the issue of (a) border queues, (b) access to air travel and (c) improved communications in Gibraltar. [98422]

Mr. MacShane: My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary has had several discussions with his Spanish counterpart on a range of issues since 7 November. None of these concentrated on Gibraltar. I met the Spanish Minister for Europe on 10 February. We discussed a number of issues, including Gibraltar. Our relations with the Government of Spain remain close.

Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether the five economic tests for determining whether there is a clear and unambiguous case for UK entry into the eurozone will be applied separately to the economies of overseas territories, with particular reference to Gibraltar. [98833]

Ruth Kelly: I have been asked to reply.

The Government has made clear that a comprehensive and rigorous assessment of the five economic tests will be made within two years of the start of this Parliament.

International Criminal Court

Tony Worthington: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what countries, other than the United States, have approached him with a view to negotiating a bilateral Article 98 treaty relating to the International Criminal Court; and what his policy is regarding this. [98214]

Mr. Rammell: The United States is alone in having approached us for such an Agreement. Should we receive further requests, our response would be guided by the ICC Statute and the Principles agreed by EU Foreign Ministers on 30 September 2002.

Iraq

Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps he is taking to pursue the claims of UK shareholders in respect of the 1974 nationalisation of the Iraqi oil industry. [98105]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: I understand that we have no record of any recent approaches on this subject from British companies which held shares in the former Iraq Petroleum company prior to its nationalisation.

Indonesia

Mr. Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has made to the Government of Indonesia about the holding of the Reverend Rinaldy Damanik in prison; and if he will make a statement. [98360]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: Reverend Damanik has been charged with firearms offences which need to be investigated thoroughly and fully. It is essential that the legal process take its full course and the Indonesian courts hear all the evidence. Under international law we are prohibited from intervening in individual cases before the courts in another sovereign country. However, we continue to stress to the Indonesian

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Government the importance of a fair and transparent judicial system, and of applying the law in an even-handed way to all who break it. We have also offered human rights training for a number of Indonesian Supreme Court Judges. The Indonesians welcomed this training, and are keen for it to go ahead.

Saudi Arabia

Dr. Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what advice his Department is giving to British subjects in Saudi Arabia about the motives for recent bombings against non-Saudi nationals. [96366]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 31 January, Official Report, column 1090W.

Dr. Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions his Department has had with the Saudi Government regarding the human rights of Sandy Mitchell, Les Walker, James Lee and James Cottel, imprisoned in Saudi Arabia. [96367]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 6 February, Official Report, column 386W.

Dr. Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps his Department has taken to investigate claims that British nationals imprisoned in Saudi Arabia for bombings have been subjected to long periods of solitary confinement and sleep deprivation. [96368]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 3 February, Official Report column 9W.

Dr. Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has made to the Saudi authorities about (a) compliance with the human and legal rights conventions Saudi Arabia has signed to and (b) the case of the detainees Sandy Mitchell, Les Walker, James Lee and James Cottel. [93699]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: My right hon. Friend, the Foreign Secretary—and Ministerial colleagues—have raised the cases of the British men detained in Saudi Arabia at the highest levels with the Saudi authorities. We remain deeply concerned about these cases. The men's welfare is our paramount concern. We continue to work hard to resolve the cases. We are in close contact with the Saudi authorities and the men's lawyers.

Saudi Arabia is a signatory to a number of international human rights conventions including the Geneva Convention on Human Rights; and the Convention Against Torture. HMG raises human rights issues regularly at all levels with the Saudi government, both bilaterally and with our EU partners.

Sudan

Dr. Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent discussions he has had with the government of Sudan regarding (a) the

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special courts and human rights violations and (b) fighting between the Baggara and the Fur Marralit tribes in Darfur. [98003]

Mr. Rammell: We are concerned about the extensive use of the death penalty in Sudan, in particular the lack of legal representation and the use of special courts. We have made representations to the Sudanese Government, most recently to the Minister of Justice on 18 January. Following the executions of 3 men on 8 January, the EU Presidency issued a statement of condemnation on 10 January and raised the case with the Under-Secretary at the Ministry of Justice on 11 January.

We are also concerned about reports of clashes between camel herders from the north and the Fur in Jebel Marra. We raised this issue most recently with General Ibrahim Suleiman, Wali of North Darfur and Head of the Darfur Taskforce, on 23 January.

Dr. Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has made to participants in the peace process in Sudan regarding the situation in Darfur. [98004]

Mr. Rammell: We have made regular representations on the situation in Darfur to the Government of Sudan in Khartoum, most recently on 18 and 23 January.

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