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Moazzam Begg and Feroz Abbasi

Mr. Allen: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what evidence he has received from the American Administration in support of their claim that they have the right to try Moazzam Begg and Feroz Abbasi as combatants; and if he will make a statement. [131805]

Mr. Mullin: The US authorities have made clear their view that the detainees at Guantanamo Bay are being held as enemy combatants. The question of the legal status of the detainees at Guantanamo Bay under international law depends on the facts relating to each individual detainee. The US, as the detaining power, has access to that information and in the first instance, the question of the status of the detainees is a matter for them.

Mr. Begg and Mr. Abbasi have been designated as eligible for Military Commissions, but have not yet been charged. Proceedings against them have been suspended pending the outcome of discussions between the British and US Governments.

Kenny Richey

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions his Department had with US counterparts before the vote in the UN Security Council on the resolution condemning the building by Israel of the security wall in parts of the Occupied Territories; and for what reasons the UK decided to abstain in the vote. [133957]

Mr. Rammell: I will write to my hon. Friend and place a copy in the Library of the House.

NM Rothschild and Sons Ltd.

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on services provided to his Department by NM Rothschild since 1997. [139963]

Mr. Rammell: NM Rothschild was engaged in 1997 to provide consultancy advice on PFI options for a BBC World Service project to construct a relay station in Oman. The value of the contract was £88,125.

North Korea

Sir John Stanley: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps the Government has taken (a) to try to prevent North Korea from acquiring a nuclear weapon manufacturing capability, (b) to encourage the opening up of personal and transport communications between the peoples of North and South Korea and (c) to reduce human rights violations in North Korea. [140016]

Mr. Rammell: The Government continue to raise their concerns about North Korea's nuclear programmes directly with the DPRK authorities and encourages international efforts to resolve the issue peacefully. We support all efforts to improve the quality of communication between North and South Korea, and regularly urge DPRK to comply with the resolution adopted by the UN Commission on Human Rights earlier this year.

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Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make it his policy to encourage amendments to the Non-Proliferation Treaty to enable (a) India, (b) Pakistan and (c) Israel to be admitted as nuclear states. [136702]

Mr. MacShane: I will write to the hon. Member and place a copy in the Library of the House.

Nuclear Weapons

Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment (a) he and (b) his officials have made of the relevance to United Kingdom policies on non-proliferation of the study on disarmament and non-proliferation education study series number 30 (2003), produced by the United Nations Department for Disarmament Affairs for the United Nations Secretary General. [138060]

Mr. MacShane: I will write to my hon. Friend shortly and place a copy of the letter in the Library of the House.

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the recent report of the International Atomic Energy Authority on whether the Government of Iran has been proved to be holding (a) enriched uranium and (b) plutonium for the purposes of a nuclear weapons programme. [139418]

Mr. MacShane [holding answer 19 November 2003]: The report of the Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency is confidential to the Agency's Board of Governors, who will discuss it at their next meeting on 20 November. I would not wish to pre-empt their discussions by making public statements about the report at this time.

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with the (a) US Administration and (b) UN representatives on the implications of the recent International Atomic Energy Authority Report on Iran. [139419]

Mr. MacShane [holding answer 19 November 2003]: The Government have been engaged in intensive discussion with the US Administration, our EU partners and others about the report, We have worked closely with a range of partners on drafting a Resolution on Iran for discussion at the next meeting of the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency on 20 November.

Oil Sales (Iraq)

Mr. Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the (a) expenditure on and (b) revenues generated by the sale of Iraqi oil on the world market since 1 May; and what projections have been made for the period from 1 November to 1 May 2004. [139855]

Mr. Timms: According to the Coalition Provisional Authority, to date $2.009 billion has been paid to the Development Fund for Iraq from the sale of oil since the conflict ended.

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The Iraqi budget for 2004 includes a forecast of $12 billion for oil revenues. There is no available monthly breakdown.

The rehabilitation of the Iraqi oil industry is being undertaken and financed by the US government through The US Army Corps of Engineers. There is no detail on expenditure on post conflict rehabilitation projects available at this time.

Pakistan

Mr. Dhanda: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent representations he has made to the Government of Pakistan about its human rights record. [139358]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: On 4 November my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary and I met with Pakistani Foreign Minister Kasuri. One of the topics discussed was the issue of human rights in Pakistan. With our EU partners we regularly engage the Pakistani authorities on Human Rights issues. On 7 February 2003 EU member states delivered a comprehensive demarche underlining their concerns on a wide range of human rights related issues. These concerns were reiterated on 23 June 2003.

Mr. Dhanda: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with his counterparts in (a) European Union member states and (b) other governments in connection with human rights in Pakistan. [139359]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary has regular discussions on Pakistan with his counterparts in EU and other governments. Issues related to human rights are raised frequently.

Mr. Dhanda: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports he has received of restrictions by the Pakistani Government on the freedom of movement of Mr. Shahbaz Bhatti, Chairman of the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance; and if he will raise the matter with the High Commissioner of Pakistan. [139360]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: On 14 October Mr. Shahbaz Bhatti, Chairman of the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance was placed on the Pakistan Interior Ministry's Exit Control List for reasons of national security. This means that Mr. Bhatti is restricted from leaving Pakistan. We understand that Mr. Bhatti has made a formal complaint to the Interior Ministry. Together with our EU colleagues we will be raising our concerns that this might be discriminatory use of the Exit Control List with the Government of Pakistan.

Russian Federation

Mr. Colman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps the Government is taking to ensure that the Russian federation authorities (a) do not extradite persons to any country where they would be at risk of the death penalty, torture or proceedings that fail to meet international fair trial standards, (b) immediately authorise the full publication of reports and recommendations made by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture, (c) amend the law to combat terrorism to establish clear

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operational lines of accountability in anti-terrorist operations and ensure that those responsible for violating human rights in the context of such operations should be brought to justice and (d) adopt a law the primary concern of which is the best interests of children with mental disability. [140076]

Mr. Rammell: I will write to my hon. Friend and place a copy in the Library of the House.

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