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Mr. Clarke: As the hon. Gentleman knows, the first aspect to which I drew attention when reporting the areas of action for the Green Paper was strengthening the role of children and families. That is a key aspect. Whatever the form of family relationship, a stable family background is the key foundation for any child to move forward. The bringing together of services as proposed will enable that to happen in a much more focused and stronger way. The focus that we have given to ethics and morality in school is important and right, and should move forward. The extended school approach that is already beginning to roll out gives a real possibility of creating such an overall approach. My fundamental answer is that I agree with the hon. Gentleman, but it is not simply a matter of an exhortation or a statement of principle. It is a matter of establishing services that put strong families, strong parenting and strong communities at the core of every child's education.
Diana Organ (Forest of Dean): My right hon. Friend rightly mentioned the importance of the sure start programme. It is a disappointment to many of us that we do not have a sure start programme, as we have seen elsewhere how successful it has been in ensuring that every child can develop its potential. Is a timetable set in the Green Paper for sure start or a similar model to be rolled out to every area, urban and rural?
As regards my right hon. Friend's concerns about protecting children and the exchange of information, in Gloucestershire we had a considerable report after the West case. One of the findings after that inquiry was that not enough information was gleaned from the domestic violence network information and the refuge information. Will that be included in the collaboration between agencies to protect children?
Mr. Clarke: I think that sure start is an outstanding programme. The reason why it has been focused—rightly, in my opinion—on the communities where there is most deprivation is precisely to intervene in the cycle of decline that can be so damaging in so many different areas. It is critical to establish the principles of sure start in every community in Britain. We cannot do that simply by adding to the number of existing sure start programmes and multiplying by a factor. We must change the practice, as my right hon. Friend the Member for Southampton, Itchen (Mr. Denham) was suggesting, of education and social services more generally. I am extremely committed to that approach.
Ideas such as children's centres and extended schools are a central part of that approach. We will publish a timetable for achieving that, as my hon. Friend the Member for Forest of Dean (Diana Organ) mentioned. I discussed that in July with a major conference of people working with children, and they welcomed that approach. However—this is a tough message, but a true message—unless the culture of some of the public services involved in looking after children is changed in the way that I described in the Green Paper, we will not achieve the aim that my hon. Friend and I share.
On domestic violence issues, yes, we will seek to exchange information widely. It is one of the tragedies of the West case as I recall it that a number of those who lost their lives were people whom the system lost in the gap between primary and secondary education. The idea of a proper school record is a key element in trying to address that problem.
Mr. Deputy Speaker: Order. I appreciate that this is a very important topic, and it is one to which the House will no doubt take the opportunity to return in future. We must now move on to the next statement.
Middle East
4.19 pm
The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr. Jack Straw): With permission, Mr. Deputy Speaker, I should like to make a statement on Iraq and the middle east.
Let me begin with Iraq. When I last updated the House, on 15 July, we had witnessed the formation of the Iraqi governing council and successful military operations against elements of the old regime. In late July, there were the deaths of Saddam Hussein's two sons. The reaction to that in Iraq, including the Sunni towns north of Baghdad, spoke for itself. The political process was advancing too. On 14 August the Security Council adopted resolution 1500, which welcomed the establishment of the governing council and created the United Nations assistance mission for Iraq.
As the House is well aware, however, those positive developments have since been overshadowed by a series of atrocities. There was the bombing of the Jordanian embassy on 7 August, which claimed the lives of 17 people. That was followed on 19 August by the attack on the UN headquarters in Baghdad, which caused the deaths of UN special representative Sergio Vieira de Mello and 21 others. Then on 29 August there was the assassination of Ayatollah Hakim in Najaf in a car bombing that killed more than 100 other worshippers.
Altogether, nine Britons have lost their lives in Iraq since the House rose on 17 July. In the south of Iraq, three separate attacks on 14, 23 and 27 August caused the deaths of five British soldiers from the Queen's Lancashire Regiment, the Royal Military Police and the Lowland Regiment of the Territorial Army. Last Thursday Ian Rimell, a British mines clearance expert, was murdered in northern Iraq. I know that I speak for the whole House when I say that our deepest condolences go to the families of the British victims and to the loved ones of all those killed by terrorists in Iraq, whether they be soldiers, international civil servants, Iraqi political leaders or Iraqi civilians going about their daily lives. I pay particular tribute to Sergio Vieira de Mello, who was an outstanding international diplomat.
I know that the House will also wish to join me in offering our deepest sympathy to the family and friends of Fiona Watson, who died in the bombing of the UN headquarters in Baghdad. Many colleagues in the House will recall that Fiona was a highly regarded officer of the House, who worked as a senior researcher in the international affairs and defence section of the Library between 1992 and 1997. Her subsequent work for the UN secretariat was recognised as being of the highest quality. She will be greatly missed both by former colleagues here and by her fellow officials at the UN.
Investigations are under way to bring the perpetrators of those and other acts of terrorism to justice. The attacks appear to come both from supporters of the Saddam regime and from terrorist groups from elsewhere in the region. What is clear is that those groups decided to target the UN and people like Ayatollah Hakim who were working so constructively and courageously for a new Iraq precisely because they could see the progress that the UN, the coalition
provisional authority and the Iraqi Governing Council were making. They wished literally to blow the process apart.The threat from terrorists is now not just to the coalition forces, but to the Iraqi people and their future. That is now increasingly recognised by the international community. Whatever view was held about the military action itself, there is a determination throughout the civilised world that we must all ensure that the terrorists fail in their objective. For our part, we will not be deterred from our overall goal: to hand sovereignty to the Iraqi people as quickly as possible in conditions allowing them to build a secure and prosperous country. [Interruption.]
Mr. Deputy Speaker (Sir Michael Lord): Order. I am sorry to interrupt the Foreign Secretary, but we really cannot have electronic devices going off in the chamber. May I urge Members either to leave them outside or switch them off?
Mr. Straw: I was talking about sovereignty. Sovereignty can only be fully exercised in a climate of security. That is why the continued presence of coalition troops is vital if Iraq is to manage the transition to representative government, and to build a society based on tolerance, human rights and the rule of law.
At present there are 140,000 United States troops and more than 10,000 British troops in the country. Another 15,000 troops have been provided by 25 other nations, including 5,500 from five existing European Union member states and 2,300 from five accession countries.
As my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence told the House earlier today, we will be deploying additional troops in the near future to the UK area of operations in south-eastern Iraq. This deployment will give extra capabilities to our commanders in theatre and increase our capacity to help to rebuild Iraq's infrastructure.
Urgent action is also being taken to build up Iraq's own security forces. Police numbers now stand at 37,000, and it is planned that that figure will rise to some 70,000. The training of the new Iraqi Army has begun with a target of three divisions by the middle of next year. An Iraqi civil defence corps of 14,000 is being trained and rapidly expanded to take over many guarding and patrolling duties, freeing up coalition forces for more demanding tasks.
On the question of further evidence relating to Saddam's illegal weapons programme, the Iraq survey group continues its work, albeit in a difficult security environment. It is a long-term task, and the survey group will make a progress report at an appropriate time.
I do not, in any way, underestimate the scale of the security and other problems that we face. They are very serious, but we should not lose sight of the effective work of the coalition provisional authority under ambassador Bremer and coalition forces and that of Iraq's governing council and Ministers. This week, Sir Jeremy Greenstock, our former ambassador to the UN, will be going out to Baghdad as the British Government's special representative. Last month, Sir Hilary Synnott, our former high commissioner in Pakistan, took up his
post in Basra as the regional co-ordinator for the CPA in southern Iraq. I know that the House will join me in sending them our good wishes.The international staff in Iraq—including many Britons—are doing vital work in difficult circumstances. The delivery of essential services is gradually improving, food distribution systems have been restored and all 240 hospitals in Iraq are functioning. With the help of UNICEF, more than 22 million doses of vaccines have been provided—enough for 4.2 million children.
By the end of June, most schools in Iraq were open. We have launched an upgrade of school facilities, and 70 million revised textbooks will have been printed by the end of December. Universities have been operating as normal.
The water sector is obviously one of our top priorities. Projects are in hand in Baghdad and elsewhere to upgrade treatment plants and to build new ones to serve 11.5 million people. The network has, however, been badly hit by organised sabotage, exacerbated by shortages of parts and chemicals.
Electricity and oil supplies have also been targeted by the terrorists. In response, an Iraqi force is being trained and armed to guard Iraq's oil and power facilities as well as its bridges and dams. Iraqis are helping coalition troops to secure the 19,000 km of power lines and the 7,000 km of oil pipelines in Iraq.
Our Department for International Development is moving quickly to allocate new funds for emergency infrastructure programmes in southern Iraq.
One of the immediate consequences of the bombing of the UN building on 19 August has been the scaling down of the UN presence in Iraq. We are in close touch with the UN about the implementation of further security measures to help it to restore its activity.
Over as short a time scale as possible, our overall goal is to create the conditions in which the Iraqi people can take responsibility for the governance of their country. Two months after its formation, the Iraqi governing council is heavily involved in key economic and political decisions. On 3 September, it appointed 25 interim Ministers. From now on, Iraq's government ministries will be led by Iraqi politicians, who will be responsible for implementing policy and for managing their budgets. Along with the governing council and the CPA, the Ministers enjoy full rights to initiate policy. The overall effect of those important changes has been a significant transfer of responsibility from the CPA to the Iraqis, a process that should accelerate from now on.
On the international front, I have been working closely over recent weeks with Secretary Powell and my colleagues within the EU and elsewhere to strengthen the UN mandate in Iraq. A draft text of a resolution is being discussed at the Security Council. Let me set out its central elements. The draft reaffirms the UN's support for the work of the governing council. It calls on the governing council to submit a timetable and programme for the drafting of a new constitution for Iraq and for the holding of democratic elections. The United Nations will itself be heavily involved in preparing the electoral register and other electoral processes.
The draft also proposes a United Nations-mandated multinational force under existing unified command arrangements. That should help to facilitate the provision of troops by other countries so far not involved in Iraq.
Finally, the text refers to next month's conference in Madrid, which will be attended by a number of potential donor countries and the international financial institutions, and calls upon UN member states to help the Iraqi people by providing resources for rehabilitation and reconstruction. Discussions on the draft resolution will resume in New York later today. I will of course report any outcome to the House and make available to it any published text.
Let me now turn to the situation in Israel and the occupied territories. I very much regret, as I am sure does the whole House, the resignation of the Palestinian Authority Prime Minister, Abu Mazen, over the weekend. We had confidence in him and we supported his efforts to deliver the Palestinians' implementation of their road map commitments in a difficult climate of violence and uncertainty. It was Abu Mazen's appointment in April that triggered the publication of the road map, which set out the aim of a secure state of Israel alongside a viable Palestinian state and how we achieve that.
But Abu Mazen's resignation must not be allowed to send the peace process back to square one. The Palestinian leadership must unite around a clear commitment to road map implementation. It needs to take firm action to stop the terrorists planning and executing attacks—such as the appalling 19 August bus bombing in Jerusalem—from territory under Palestinian Authority control.
The speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council—Abu Ala—has now been nominated to take over from Abu Mazen. Abu Ala is a Palestinian leader with a long track record of efforts for peace. If his appointment is confirmed, we will judge him by his commitment to the peace process.
Similarly, we shall continue to encourage Israel to meet its obligations. Israel must create a climate within which moderate Palestinian leaders can prevail: by freezing settlement activity; by removing outposts, which are illegal even under Israeli law; by restoring Palestinian freedom of movement, so allowing economic activity to restart; by ending so-called targeted assassinations; and by ensuring that the security fence does not encroach on Palestinian land.
The House will wish to know that this morning I spoke to Nabil Shaath, the Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister, to Secretary of State Colin Powell and, shortly before making this statement, to Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom.
The responsibility of the international community is to do everything that we can to hold both sides to their commitments under the road map and to isolate the terrorists, and we shall continue to play our part. I welcome the fact the European Union is taking a lead in that respect. At the meeting that I attended on Saturday, European Union Foreign Ministers unanimously agreed that the Union should freeze the assets of Hamas.
In respect of both the middle east peace process and the situation in Iraq, Britain is seeking, in partnership with others, to bring its influence to bear on a region that has suffered unimaginable torment for decades. In recent months, thanks in part to our actions, the people of the area have had reason to believe that a peaceful and prosperous future might be within reach. That prospect must be kept alive against those who would plunge the region into chaos. We are determined to work with the international community to establish peace and security across the whole region. Despite the setbacks of recent days and weeks, that is the course that we shall continue to pursue.
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