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8 Apr 2003 : Column 196W—continued
Sudan
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports he has received concerning the attacks by government-backed Arab militants upon the Fur people of Darfur in western Sudan; what discussions he will have with the Sudanese Government concerning these attacks; and what benchmarks will be used to determine progress made in these discussions. [106422]
Mr. Rammell: There have been persistent reports of fighting in Darfur. The British Embassy in Khartoum will continue to monitor the situation. They are in
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contact with a wide range of government and National Congress party officials in addition to Darfur MPs and other local representatives. Our Embassy in Khartoum has requested permission to visit Darfur and will do so as soon as possible.
We discussed the situation in Darfur most recently with the Under-Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as part of the EU/Sudan dialogue on 27 March. He reported that the Government of Sudan has established mechanisms to resolve peacefully the situation in Darfur. We have no separate benchmarks to assess progress.
Mr. Dawson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on (a) the mandate of Gerhart Baum, UN Special Rapporteur on Sudan and (b) the human rights status accorded to Sudan by the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva. [107238]
Mr. Rammell: We take a close interest and play an active role in the promotion of human rights in Sudan. This includes our strong support for the work of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (HCHR) there. The UK has until now been the main contributor of funding for the Office of the HCHR in Khartoum. As a member of the EU, the UK has consistently supported successive EU-sponsored resolutions at the UN Commission on Human Rights and the UN General Assembly. We believe that it is important to maintain the mandate of the Special Rapporteur as part of the general effort to improve the human rights situation in Sudan. The UNCHR is currently discussing human rights in Sudan in Geneva.
Mr. Dawson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether operations have recommenced in oil concessions 5a and 5b in southern Sudan. [107239]
Mr. Rammell: Work has resumed in block 5a in the areas which were abandoned in January 2002. In block 5b no work is under way or planned.
Sunset Clauses
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the sunset clauses included in legislation from his Department since 1997. [106946]
Travel Costs
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the cost was of travel by train by staff in his Department in 2002. [106347]
Mr. Rammell: Total train travel costs are not readily identifiable from the FCO's current accounting systems. Subject to final audit, the total of train travel in the UK which has been booked through the FCO's rail desk and by the use of rail warrants is £440,650 for the 2002–03 financial year.
Visas
Fiona Mactaggart: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs for each British
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post abroad which operates a pre-sift system for people applying for visit visas, how many people (a) were advised to withdraw their applications and (b) followed that advice in (i) 2001, (ii) 2002 and (iii) 2003 up to the latest date for which figures are available. [104412]
Mr. Rammell: We do not record the number of applicants who are advised to withdraw their application at the pre-assessment stage. To ask Posts to provide this information now would require them to carry out a manual search of their records. This could be done only at disproportionate cost. However, it is now our policy to minimise the use of pre-assessment.
The number of applications actually withdrawn at Posts operating a pre-sift/assessment from 2001 is set out in the following table.
Notes:
(17) The January to March 2001 figures are based on the monthly statistical returns received from the 109 largest Entry Clearance posts. To answer this question for all 164 posts we would have to ask those additional posts to extract the information requested. As these posts tend to be the smaller posts it is unlikely that many of them will pre-sift applications.
(18) The April 2001-March 2002 figures are based on annual financial year statistical reports received from all 166 Entry Clearance posts.
(19) From April 2002 all Entry Clearance posts were required to send in monthly statistical returns. The figures provided for April to December 2002 are based on these returns.
(20) These posts only complete annual returns.
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