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9 Apr 2003 : Column 307W—continued
Afghanistan
Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what plans NATO has for operations in Afghanistan; and if he will make a statement. [107745]
Mr. Ingram: I have been asked to reply.
I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave on 7 April 2003, Official Report, columns 7–8W, to the hon. Member for North Essex (Mr. Jenkin) regarding the potential for NATO involvement in Afghanistan.
Central Asian Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone
Mr. Soley: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the Government's response to the decision to create a Central Asian nuclear weapon-free zone by Kazakhstan, Kyrgystan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan; and what implications this has for the UK as a nuclear weapon state. [107204]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: The UK supports the establishment of nuclear weapon free zones on the basis of arrangements freely arrived at among the states of the region concerned. Together with China, France, Russia and the United States, we have participated in formal consultations with the five Central Asian States concerning the establishment of the draft Central Asian Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone and its draft Protocol. As a nuclear weapon State the UK intends giving a negative security assurance to those States forming this zone, by becoming party to the draft protocol. This would be subject to satisfactory conclusion being reached over the language in the draft Treaty and Protocol.
Document Classification
Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many documents are held by his Department that are subject to security classification, broken down by category of classification. [107348]
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Mr. Straw: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office holds approximately 23 km of archived paper documents and nearly 2 million archived electronic documents; an estimated further 4 km paper files and 3 million electronic documents are held in current registries. No central record of classified documents is maintained and further breakdown could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Iraq
Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to his answer of 25 March 2003, Official Report, column 120W, on Iraq, which parts of the Iraqi declaration he deems of such a nature as to be justified for non public disclosure under exemption 1 (c) of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information. [107288]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: Exemption 1 (c) of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information covers documents provided in confidence by other governments, international courts and international organisations.
The Iraqi declaration was provided to the UK Government in confidence by the United Nations. It follows, therefore, that the exemption covers that declaration in its entirety.
Israel
Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent representations he has made to Israel on opening up its nuclear facilities to international inspections. [107112]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: We consistently urge Israel to accede to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty as a non nuclear weapons state, and to sign a full-scope safeguards agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). We did this most recently during official-level talks with the Israeli Government in Tel Aviv in March 2003. Under the agreement with IAEA, Israel's nuclear facilities would be subject to regular inspection to detect and eliminate any diversion of nuclear materials for weapons production.
Mr. Pound: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps he is taking to ensure that Israel complies with United Nations Security Council resolutions in respect of Palestine. [107225]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: The Government constantly urges both Israel and the other Parties to the Middle East Peace Process to comply with United Nations Security Council Resolutions. This includes compliance with Resolution 1435, which calls for Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian cities, action by the Palestinian Authority to bring those responsible for acts of terror to justice and a complete cessation of violence. We fully support the Quartet Roadmap and its route to a lasting settlement based on UN Security Council Resolutions 242, 338 and 1397 and the principle of land for peace.
Market Research
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what expenditure has been
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incurred by his (a) Department, (b) agencies and (c) non-departmental bodies in 2002 on (i) opinion polling, (ii) focus groups and (iii) other forms of market research; and if he will list the surveys commissioned and the purpose of each. [106271]
Mr. MacShane: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office spent a total of £95,047 on opinion polling, focus groups and market research in the UK in 2002–03.
- 1. a survey to research consular awareness among football supporters travelling to the World Cup in Japan and Korea
2. a survey to research consular awareness among British travellers in the 16–30 age range
3. one series of focus groups on attitudes of British citizens towards the EU
4. one series of focus groups exploring the attitudes of British citizens towards EU enlargement.
No other FCO NDPBs or its one Executive Agency conducted surveys in the UK in 2002.
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what his estimate is of the expenditure of his Department on newspapers, magazines and periodicals in 2002. [106309]
Mr. Rammell: For Financial Year 2002–03 the total is £608, 401. These figures are provisional and subject to final audit.
Staff Numbers
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many staff were employed by his Department in (a) 2001–02 and (b) 2002–03. [106968]
Mr. Rammell: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given him by my hon. Friend the Minister of State, Cabinet Office on 4 April 2003, Official Report, column 891W.
Vietnam
Alistair Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent discussions he has had with the Vietnamese Government concerning the persecution of Montagnard Christians in the central highlands of Vietnam; and what benchmarks are used to monitor progress in these discussions. [107367]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: We regularly raise the problems faced by the Montagnards in the Central Highlands with the Vietnamese Government. I discussed the issue with Vietnam's Foreign Minister Nien when I last met him in June 2002. The FCO's Asia Pacific Director raised religious freedom when she discussed human rights with senior Vietnamese officials in December 2002. We are currently working to develop a more focused approach to the group including through the development of an action plan. Our Embassy also
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monitors progress by regular visits to the Central Highlands region including as part of a delegation from EU Embassies in Hanoi.
Websites
Mr. Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the (a) cost of and (b) number of visitors to each website operated by his Department and each agency and non-departmental public body for which his Department is responsible in each year since its establishment. [107601]
Mr. MacShane: I refer the hon. Member to the answers I gave to the hon. Member for Buckingham (Mr. Bercow) on 26 February 2002, Official Report, column 1157W, and 3 April 2003, Official Report, column 829W.
Western Sahara
Mr. Grogan: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the Government's policy towards Western Sahara. [107037]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: The UK—in common with most other countries—regards the sovereignty of Western Sahara as undetermined pending UN efforts to find a solution to this dispute.
We continue to support the efforts of the United Nations Secretary General (UNSG) and James Baker, his Personal Envoy in trying to find a just and durable resolution to the dispute. We also support UN Security Council Resolution 1429 which expressed the Security Council's readiness to consider any approach that provides for self-determination that the UNSG and his Personal Envoy might propose. It commended the parties for their continuing commitment to the ceasefire.
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