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Films (North-east England)

Mr. Alan Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what steps her Department is taking to promote film tourism in the North East of England. [130390]

Mr. Caborn: VisitBritain is funded by the Department to market Britain overseas and England to the domestic market. VisitBritain's movie map campaign and website have run continuously since 1996. Three sites in the North East where scenes from Elizabeth were filmed are featured: Alnwick Castle and Bamburgh Beach in Northumberland and Durham Cathedral. The map also features Newcastle where the films Purely Belter and The One and Only were set, Hulne Priory in Northumberland which appears in Robin Hood—Prince of Thieves, and Easington where Billy Elliott was filmed. Alnwick Castle, and the wealth of other attractions in its vicinity, is also featured in VisitBritain's 'The Magic of Britain' campaign which promotes Britain through the Harry Potter series of films. Future plans include building on the new Russell Crowe film Master and Commander in VisitBritain's 'SeaBritain 2005' campaign which, among other nautical and maritime locations, will feature HMS Trincomalee in Hartlepool.

Parliamentary Questions

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many Questions directed to her remain unanswered. [130761]

Mr. Caborn : 24 written parliamentary questions tabled to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport for answer up to and including Monday 15 September 2003 remain unanswered. This includes 21 ordinary written questions tabled to the Department between 9–12 September.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Burma

Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the relationship between his Department and the Burmese Government; and what recent discussions they have had about (a) the arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi and (b) human rights abuses against minority groups. [130300]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: The UK has made numerous representations to the Burmese authorities concerning the arrest of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. I personally have spoken to the Burmese Deputy Foreign Minister and most recently the Burmese ambassador on 1 September, to register the UK's grave concern over the unacceptable violence and repression that has been inspired, organised and carried out by the military regime. This has been supplemented by representations

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by the British embassy in Rangoon who have been instrumental in pressing for and supporting demarches to the Burmese regime, including on human rights abuses against the ethnic groups.

International Student Visas

Mrs. Anne Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many international student visas are issued each year. [129424]

Mr. Mullin: The table shows the number of student visas issued worldwide each year since 1998. Since 2001, statistics have been collated by financial year (1 April to 31 March) rather than calendar year.

	Student visas issued
1998	69,607
1999	75,607
2000	99,559
FY 2001–02	121,466
FY 2002–03	120,888

Afghanistan

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many ministerial visits have been made to Afghanistan in the last six months. [129464]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: There have been two ministerial visits to Afghanistan in the last six months. My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary visited between 30 June and 1 July, followed by my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr. Rammell) between 22 and 27 July.

Algeria

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with the European Parliament concerning human rights violations in Algeria under the European Union Algeria Association Agreement; and what plans he has to introduce measures to increase the level of aid to that country. [130616]

Mr. MacShane: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs has not discussed with the European Parliament human rights violations in Algeria under the EU/Algeria Association Agreement. The Agreement was signed on 22 April 2002, but is not yet in force. Member states, the European Community and Algeria must all ratify the Agreement before it can come into force. When the Agreement does enter into force the EU will be in a position to monitor closely Algeria's adherence to the human rights principles laid out in the Association Agreement.

The European Parliament debated the conclusion of the EU/Algerian Association Agreement on 10 October 2002. The Parliament welcomed the plan to conclude the Agreement and hoped that the Agreement would give decisive impetus to the political and economic reforms required to improve the economic and social situation in Algeria. The European Parliament also highlighted its concerns over Algeria's human rights record.

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The UK's bilateral development programme is focused on the poorest countries, particularly those of sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. The Government have no plans to reintroduce a bilateral development programme in Algeria, which is a middle income country. Nor do we intend to press the EC to expand its development programme in the country.

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the ratification of the EU-Algeria Association Agreement. [130617]

Mr. MacShane: The Government have initiated the process for UK ratification of the EU/Algeria Association Agreement, the text of which is contained in Command Paper 5804, laid before Parliament on 9 May 2003. I anticipate that the agreement will be debated in Parliament in this session, and that the UK's ratification procedures will be completed by February 2004. The agreement will enter into force when all parties— EU member states, the European Community and Algeria—have ratified.

China

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the treatment of Pastor Gong Shengliang, held in Jingzhou prison, Hubei Province, China. [130569]

Mr. Rammell: We have been concerned about reports that Pastor Gong Shengliang has suffered ill treatment in Jingzhou prison, Hubei Province. We supported an EU demarche on this subject in Beijing on 18 July. The Chinese authorities said that the allegations of torture and ill-treatment were untrue and that Pastor Gong was in good health.

We have also raised Pastor Gong's case directly with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. On 31 July the Chinese authorities told us that Pastor Gong had had stomach problems before he was imprisoned and that following treatment the problems had stabilised. His relatives have visited him four times.

Cyprus

Mr. Chris Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has made about the provision of education for Greek children recently in the Turkish-occupied part of Cyprus. [129917]

Mr. MacShane: The British Government take the welfare of the Greek Cypriot community in the north of Cyprus seriously. Through our High Commission in Cyprus, and with the Turkish Cypriot authorities, the UN and the Government of Cyprus, we do what we can to ameliorate the situation.

Our High Commission is keeping a close eye on the situation concerning those students who have recently finished their primary education and are due to move to secondary education.

Nevertheless, this remains one of the many examples of the fact that Cypriots on both sides of the island suffer because of the lack so far of a comprehensive settlement in Cyprus. We are urging the parties to resume

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negotiations on the basis of the UN Plan, in time to allow a reunited island to accede to the EU on 1 May next year.

European Union

Mr. Spring: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many amendments were tabled by the right hon. Member for Neath (Mr. Hain) at the Convention on the Future of Europe; and how many were agreed to. [129131]

Mr. MacShane: We estimate that, excluding the reiterations of amendments tabled more than once, the UK delegation submitted 154 amendments. Many of these were technical or legal drafting amendments. Even when not accepting amendments verbatim, the Convention frequently agreed on language which met our underlying concerns in whole or in part.

For that reason, it is not possible to put a precise figure on the number of UK proposals that were agreed to. The Convention's final draft text met the majority of the UK's objectives. As the Thessaloniki Council agreed it is 'a good starting point' for the discussions between 25 European nation states which will agree the next EU constitutional treaty.

Framework Convention on Tobacco Control

Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what action his Department is taking, in conjunction with the Department of Health, to encourage the ratification of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control by all EU member states. [130044]

Mr. MacShane: The UK signed the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in June and is currently preparing to ratify the Treaty. We will be aiming to encourage early ratification by other Member States too. The ratification timetable is likely to be discussed at the Council on 1–2 December.

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