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FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Côte D'Ivoire: (Overseas Military Units)

The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr. Jack Straw): I am gravely concerned at reports that Northbridge Services Group, a UK company, is recruiting British, South African, French and other ex-servicemen as military units to work in Côte d'Ivoire. The crisis in Côte d'Ivoire has caused enormous suffering for the people of that country, and threatens the stability of the wider region. The Linas-Marcoussis agreement offers Ivorians the opportunity of a peaceful, political settlement, which addresses the key issue underlying the crisis. Ivorians are now making progress in setting up a broad-based government of National Reconciliation, under the terms of the Linas-Marcoussis Agreement. Any deployment of foreign military units at this time would seriously undermine the peace process, and the efforts of the UK and wider international community to support a durable, political settlement. We have made it clear to Northbridge Services Group that the UK Government would deplore any intervention of this sort.

Export Licence (Ghana)

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr. Bill Rammell): Following consultations with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Ministry of Defence, the Department of Trade and Industry recently approved a

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licence to export antennae masts to Ghana. These masts will be used, by the Ghanaian Armed Forces in the UN peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

The DRC is subject to an EU arms embargo, imposed by a Declaration of 7/4/1993. The embargo was put in place mainly to ensure the safety of international troops and civilian personnel deployed in the DRC.

The decision to grant an exemption to the EU arms embargo on the DRC was made on the basis that the equipment is needed by bona fide UN peacekeepers and is proportionate to the needs of the Ghanaian peacekeepers. It does not affect HMG's continued support for the EU arms embargo on the DRC.

HMG fully supports the Ghanaian troops deployed to the UN peacekeeping mission in the DRC. The decision underlines our continued support for the work being done by peacekeepers within the country.

WORK AND PENSIONS

Social Fund

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Malcolm Wicks): I am pleased to announce that the gross discretionary social fund budget for 2003–04 will be £677.5m. This represents an increase of more than £50m over the total gross budget at April 2002. This increase will be funded through higher loan recoveries, plus an increase in net Treasury funding of £20m for this year. The £20m is the first of three annual increases from a £90m boost for the discretionary Social Fund announced in the Autumn 2002 pre-Budget report.

As part of the 2003–04 allocation, we have increased the community care grant budget by £10m. This is a significant increase that will help the most vulnerable. It has been distributed so that every district benefits by an increase in their CCG budget and districts move closer to meeting the same proportion of demand nationally.

The loans budget will be £558m, an increase of £40m over that at April 2002. To maintain fairness within the scheme, the loans budget will continue to be allocated to districts to support consistency of outcome for applicants wherever they live.

£1.5m will be retained centrally as a contingency reserve. For example to provide additional help to districts facing unexpected and unplanned expenditure.

Details of individual district budget allocations have been placed in the Library.

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State will be making a number of minor changes to the discretionary social fund, with effect from 7 April 2003. The changes to the fund are minor clarifications of guidance and directions, and, in the main, are consequential to legislative changes being made in respect of other social security benefits.

Details of the changes have been placed in the Library.

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HOME DEPARTMENT

Asylum Seekers

The Minister for Citizenship and Immigration (Beverley Hughes): On 7 October 2002 my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary announced the ending of the routine granting of exceptional leave on a country basis and a review of its use and scope to focus it on those who really need special humanitarian protection but do not qualify as refugee.

In the past, exceptional leave has been used far too widely—it was only ever intended to be granted to those able to demonstrate compelling compassionate or humanitarian reasons for staying in the United Kingdom. Instead, the widespread use of exceptional leave has acted as a pull factor, encouraging economic migrants to apply for asylum in the United Kingdom in the belief that they will be given exceptional leave when their claim is rejected.

That is why we have decided to replace the exceptional leave system with a new Humanitarian Protection system. From now on the UK will only offer international protection to those who really need it.

From today Humanitarian Protection will be granted only to those who, though not refugees would, if removed, face in the country of return a serious risk to life or person arising from the death penalty, unlawful killing or torture, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Under the new system those who qualify for Humanitarian Protection will be granted leave for three years, at which point a person with a continuing need for protection will be eligible to apply for settlement in the United Kingdom. A person with no continuing need will not get any further leave.

The Secretary of State will also retain the discretion to grant limited leave to those who do not qualify for Humanitarian Protection or leave under the Immigration rules. The circumstances in which Discretionary Leave will be granted will be defined and tightly focused. This leave will normally be granted for two periods of three years, but there is scope to grant shorter periods depending on the individual circumstances. Again, it will not be renewed unless a person continues to qualify for such leave.

Both the Humanitarian Protection and Discretionary Leave systems will be far more focused and clearly defined than the exceptional leave system. Failed asylum seekers who do not fall into one of these categories will not be granted any leave and will be removed. We are determined that the asylum system will no longer be a short cut to work or settlement in the UK. I believe that these measures, when taken alongside the provisions in the Nationality Immigration and Asylum Act 2002, will take us even further forward in our efforts to reduce the number of unfounded asylum applicants seeking to abuse our immigration system.

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DEFENCE

Vaccines Interactions Research Programme

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence (Dr. Lewis Moonie): The Ministry of Defence's Vaccines Interactions Research Programme is studying whether the combination of vaccines and nerve agent pretreatment (NAPS) tablets used to protect United Kingdom personnel during the 1990–91 Gulf Conflict can give rise to adverse health effects. The study involves four groups of 12 marmosets. One group was given the full range of vaccines which could have been administered during the 1990–91 Gulf conflict (anthrax, plague, pertussis, yellow fever, cholera, tetanus, polio, hepatitis B, typhoid and meningitis), one was given pyridostigmine bromide, which is the active ingredient of NAPS, one was given both vaccines and pyridostigmine bromide, and the last was the control group, which received neither. The marmosets are being monitored over a period of 18 months and a number of indices, such as cognitive performance, EEG, sleep, endocrine functioning and immune responsiveness, are measured at regular intervals.

Preliminary results from the first three months of the study are now available and are being presented by means of a scientific poster at the British Toxicological Society's annual conference at Herriott Watt University in Edinburgh. These preliminary results provide data on behaviour, sleep, EEG, body weight, cholinesterase inhibition and muscle function and indicate no apparent adverse health consequences three months following the administration of vaccine and/or pyridostigmine bromide. I am placing copies of the abstract and poster in the Library of the House. They will also be available on the Ministry of Defence's website.

In addition, preliminary immunology results will be reported at the 3rd international meeting of the Edward Jenner Institute for Vaccines Research from 12 to 16 April. Copies of the abstract and poster presentation will then be placed in the Library of the House and will be made available on the Ministry of Defence's website.

The study as a whole is due to complete in December 2003 and the results are expected to be published in the peer reviewed scientific literature thereafter.

Reserve Call-Out

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence (Dr. Lewis Moonie): A new call-out Order has been made under section 56 of the Reserve Forces Act 1996 to allow reservists to continue to be called-out into permanent service to support operations in the former Yugoslavia. This replaces the existing Order that expired on 31 March. The new Order is effective until 31 March 2004.

Since 1995, when NATO operations commenced in the former Yugoslavia, the reserve forces have historically provided around 10 per cent. of the total UK manpower in theatre. At present, there are around 230 reservists from all three Services serving in Bosnia and Kosovo. They are providing specialist skills in fields such as logistics, signals and medical support.

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I am also announcing two compulsory mobilisations under the new Order. One is an extension of the existing deployment of small numbers of specialist medical personnel (anaesthetists and surgeons) to provide critical support to our forces in theatre. Since April 2002, we have called out 17 personnel to serve three month tours. This will continue for another 12 months. We anticipate a requirement for around six personnel at any one time. Given the small numbers involved, and our intention to spread the burden across the NHS, we are confident that the impact on patients in the UK will be minimal.

The second compulsory mobilisation will be of further specialist medical and logistics personnel from the Territorial Army. They will provide general practice, ambulance, and postal and courier capabilities in theatre. In total, we will call out around 150 personnel from 251 and 253 Field Ambulance (Volunteers) and up to 20 personnel from 87 and 88 Regiments Postal and Courier Services. Personnel will serve for up to seven months, with the first deployments in June.

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