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Diego Garcia

Mr. Menzies Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to his answer of 24 February to the hon. Member for Hereford (Mr. Keetch), Official Report, column 245W, on Diego Garcia, what stocks of anti-personnel landmines are held on Diego Garcia; what assurances the Government

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received from the United States during 2003 relating to munitions kept on Diego Garcia; and if he will make a statement. [129509]

Mr. Straw: UK officials raised these issues in the course of the annual bilateral talks on the British Indian Ocean Territory in June 2003. US officials assured us that no anti-personnel landmines are stored on Diego Garcia.

Mr. Menzies Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to his answer of 15 July to the hon. Member for Hereford (Mr. Keetch), Official Report, column 193W, on Diego Garcia, whether prisoners have been held in (a) US vessels and (b) US merchant vessels chartered by the US Government moored in Diego Garcia waters; what jurisdiction such prisoners would fall under; and if he will make a statement. [129511]

Mr. Straw: The United States Government have explicitly assured us that there have never been any prisoners in detention on any US vessels moored in Diego Garcia waters. The British Government are satisfied that this is correct.

Iraq

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of reports from members of the Christian community in Iraq that they have been subject to assaults, murder and discrimination since the commencement of military action in Iraq earlier this year. [128081]

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Mr. Rammell: The British Office in Baghdad has received no reports from members of the Christian community suggesting any form of discrimination against them since the commencement of military action in Iraq. However, FCO Ministers have received correspondence from MPs passing on constituents' concerns about religious freedom in Iraq. Our staff in Iraq meet regularly with representatives of many Iraqi political and religious groups, including Christians, and we will continue to monitor the situation closely.

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent representations he has received in respect of the position of the Christian community in Iraq. [128083]

Mr. Rammell: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office Ministers and the British Office in Baghdad have not received any formal representations in respect of the position of the Christian community in Iraq. We have had some correspondence from MPs and others on the subject of religious freedom in the country.

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many police officers from each police authority volunteered in response to the request to go to Iraq to help train the Iraqi Police Force; how many will be going; and for how long. [129327]

Mr. Rammell: With the agreement of my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary, my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary asked the Association of Chief Police Officers to seek up to 200 volunteers to create a pool of United Kingdom police officers for training for potential deployment to Iraq. The pool is intended to sustain the deployment of up to 100 United Kingdom officers at any one time. Some may be deployed to a third country to assist in the out of country training of the Iraqi Police service. In the event of deployment, secondments will be for a period of six to twelve months.

We are continuing to receive applications and have started the selection process. To date, we have received in excess of 230 applications from 23 forces.

North Korea

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent representations the Government have made (a) directly and (b) through the UN Security Council to the North Korean Government on their nuclear weapons programme. [129467]

Mr. Rammell: The Government make all representations to the Government of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) directly, through our Embassy in Pyongyang and through the DPRK Embassy in London. We continue to express our concerns about North Korea's nuclear programmes to the DPRK authorities on a regular basis. I also raised the issue with DPRK Vice Foreign Minister Choe Su Hon during his visit to London in April this year.

Telecommunications

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what interruptions of service his Department's telecommunications network has suffered since March. [129466]

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Mr. Rammell: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has a Private Finance Initiative contract for the provision of its telecommunications services which gives an overall operational availability of at least 98.5 per cent. Monthly service reports confirm that this requirement is being met or exceeded. There are typically 60—70 failures per month on a network covering over 170 locations worldwide. Many of these failures last just a few minutes and some occur out of office hours. Around 40 per cent. of failures are caused by local in-country electrical supply problems. The introduction of dedicated satellite links to the FCO's more remote embassies has significantly improved network reliability.

Titanic Agreement

Mr. Dalyell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the letter of 12 August, from the Under-Secretary of State, when he expects the Titanic Agreement to come into force; and if he will make a statement. [128269]

Mr. Rammell: The situation remains the same as in my letter of 12 August 2003 to my hon. Friend. The Agreement is being prepared for signature by the UK and will enter into force when it has been signed by two States.

WORK AND PENSIONS

Astra Training Services

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what research he has commissioned into the circumstances surrounding the collapse of Astra Training Services; what obligation the Government have to recompense former employees for lost pension payments; and if he will make a statement. [127072]

Mr. Charles Clarke: I have been asked to reply.

My hon. Friend the Member for Leeds, East (Mr. Mudie), the responsible Minister at the time, carried out a review of the Astra collapse in 1999. That review concluded that the Government did not have any case to answer to recompense former Astra employees for lost pensions. Although I have a great deal of sympathy for the situation of former Astra employees, I consider that this is a private matter between those former Astra employees and the trustees, Fountain Trustee Limited.

Child Support Agency

Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps he is taking to ensure that the Child Support Agency investigates the financial status of absent parents found to be in maintenance arrears. [127289]

Mr. Pond: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the Chief Executive, Mr. Doug Smith. He will write to the hon. Member.

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Letter from Doug Smith to Brian Jenkins, dated 11 September 2003:

The Secretary of State in replying to your recent Parliamentary question about the Child Support Agency promised a substantive reply from the Chief Executive.

You ask what steps he is taking to ensure that the Child Support Agency investigates the financial status of absent parents found to be in maintenance arrears.

When any non-resident parent is found to be in arrears, Child Support Agency caseworkers use a standardised process and approach to secure outstanding debt. This generally involves a caseworker contacting the non-resident parent by telephone to establish the non-resident parent's financial position. This would be the starting point to establishing how they wish to address the outstanding maintenance and pay arrears. If there is evidence that the non-resident parent knowingly provides false information this is referred to a specialist fraud team for full investigation.

Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) if he will (a) enable and (b) encourage the Child Support Agency to make deduction of earnings orders against self-employed absent parents; [127293]

(2) what action he is taking to align the processes by which the Child Support Agency treats self-employed absent parents and PAYE absent parents. [127302]

Mr. Pond: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the Chief Executive, Mr. Doug Smith. He will write to the hon. Member.

Letter from Doug Smith to Brian Jenkins, dated 11 September 2003:

The Secretary of State in replying to your recent Parliamentary question about the Child Support Agency promised a substantive reply from the Chief Executive.

You ask what action is being taken to align the processes by which the Child Support Agency treats self-employed absent parents and PAYE absent parents.

You also asked if he will (a) enable and (b) encourage the Child Support Agency to make deduction of earnings orders against self employed absent parents.

The Child Support Agency calculates maintenance due from employed and self-employed non-resident parents using broadly the same processes. In essence this requires the non-resident parent to verify their declared income and if we are satisfied, for a calculation to be made.

Deductions from earnings orders require an employer to deduct money from the salary of their employee. For self-employed non-resident parents, this method of collecting maintenance is not normally appropriate. Instead we deploy a range of alternative enforcement mechanisms, including:

(a) Levying of distress involving the use of Bailiffs

(b) Establishing a third party debt order—allowing money owed to the debtor to be frozen and sent to us to cover the outstanding debt

(c) Establishing a charging order—registering the debt against certain assets owned by the debtor

(d) Registering a County Court judgement, which may affect the debtors credit rating

(e) Applying for a warrant to commit the debtor to prison or for an order preventing them from holding or obtaining a driving licence.

The position I describe applies to England and Wales with a different but broadly similar approach in Scotland.

There are no current proposals to align enforcement arrangements to ensure exactly the same approach is taken to achieve compliance.

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Mr. Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what funding the Child Support Agency received in 2002–03; and how many parents he estimates are not contributing to their children's welfare because they cannot be found. [128072]

Mr. Pond: The operation of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the Chief Executive, Mr. Doug Smith. He will write to my hon. Friend.

Letter from Doug Smith to Mr. James Wray, dated 11 September 2003:

The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in replying to your recent Parliamentary question about the Child Support Agency promised a substantive reply from the Chief Executive.

You ask what funding the Child Support Agency received in 2002/03; and how many parents he estimates are not contributing to their children's welfare because they cannot be found.

Our annual report for 2002/03 indicates that we received £215 million as funding for core running costs. I estimate that at the end of June we do not hold a current address for around 100,000 non resident parents. The majority of these are not likely to have a current maintenance assessment requiring a payment but I do not have precise figures.

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