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FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Bangladesh

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has made to the Government of Bangladesh over the persecution of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in that country; and if he will make a statement. [153522]

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Mr. Mike O'Brien: We are concerned about the situation of Ahmadiyya Muslims in Bangladesh, and raise this regularly with the Bangladeshi Government. I discussed the issue with the High Commissioner for Bangladesh in London on 22 January. I also met representatives of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Association (UK) on 29 January to hear their concerns. Our High Commissioner in Dhaka raised the issue with the State Minister for Foreign Affairs on 22 and 30 December 2003, and the EU troika raised it with the State Minister on 23 December 2003. Our High Commission in Dhaka is monitoring the situation closely, and we will continue to raise the issue when appropriate.

Boulos Rezek-Allah

Mr. Dhanda: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent discussions he has had with (a) the Egyptian Foreign Minister and (b) the Egyptian Ambassador to the Court of St. James's in connection with the treatment of Mr. Boulos Rezek-Allah. [153305]

Mr. Rammell: None. However officials from the British Embassy in Cairo have discussed religious issues with the Coptic Church in Egypt and raised our concerns with the Egyptian authorities where appropriate.

Eritrea

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the situation of Christians in Eritrea, with particular reference to Evangelicals. [153995]

Mr. Mullin: We are concerned about the restrictions on religious freedom in Eritrea. I raised this issue most recently with the government of Eritrea during my visit to Asmara from 13 to 14 January. I also raised it with the Eritrean Foreign Minister and the Eritrean Ambassador in London last December. Our Ambassador in Asmara raises the issue regularly, both bilaterally and in conjunction with our EU partners.

EU Enlargement

Mr. Brazier: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps he is taking to encourage the EU to negotiate with (a) Ukraine and (b) Russia in relation to loss of markets arising from accession of the 10 new member states. [153791]

Mr. MacShane: We expect that Russian and Ukrainian exporters will benefit significantly from access to the markets of the enlarged EU and that Russia and Ukraine will experience an overall increase in levels of trade.

The EU has regular meetings with Russia and Ukraine within the framework of the EU/Russia and EU/Ukraine Partnership and Co-operation Agreements. Both Russia and Ukraine have raised the matter of trade relations with the enlarged EU during recent talks, and the EU has undertaken to address their concerns in this area.

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Mr. Heathcoat-Amory: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs which EU member states have agreed to unrestricted admission of workers from the newly joining states from May. [153003]

Mr. MacShane: After Accession on 1 May, nationals from the 10 new EU member states will be able to travel freely throughout the EU. However, except for nationals of Malta and Cyprus, they will not automatically be allowed to work in the existing member states. Those existing member states may open their labour markets to nationals from the new member states if they so choose. The Netherlands, Sweden, Ireland, Denmark and the UK have said that they will do this.

Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands have subsequently set out certain conditions for workers for accession states to enjoy this freedom. In the case of Sweden and the Netherlands these proposals remain under discussion and have yet to be implemented.

Italy and Portugal have yet to decide whether, when or how to grant free movement of workers from the new member states.

We are right to open up the UK labour market to those who genuinely want to come here and work. It makes sense for citizens of the new member states to be able to work and contribute to our economy and pay taxes. They will expand the range of skills and supply of workers in the UK economy; and be able to work here legally, paying taxes and national insurance, not confined to the black market.

As stated in the Explanatory Memorandum for the European Union (Accessions) Act 2003 (Command Paper 5805), safeguards are available if in the event that there are "disturbances to the labour market which could seriously threaten the standard of living or level of employment in a given region or occupation".

Iraq

Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the areas where the Government has identified an inaccurate or false declaration by the former Iraqi Government in the declaration on its proscribed weapons of mass destruction programmes submitted to the United Nations Security Council on 7 December 2002, specifying the page number in each case. [152311]

Mr. MacShane: A careful examination of Iraq's declaration was undertaken in December 2002 and January 2003 and its contents were compared with the outstanding disarmament issues reported by UNSCOM upon their withdrawal from Iraq and against intelligence assessments available at the time. The results of this examination showed that there was no new information contained in the declaration, and that it therefore failed to address any of the outstanding issues. This failure was borne out by subsequent discoveries by UNMOVIC inspection teams in early 2003, and later by the Iraq Survey Group.

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The Iraqi Declaration itself remains a document confidential to the United Nations Security Council. It would not, therefore, be appropriate to go into the detail of the specific contents of any part of the declaration. Huge quantities of documents remain to be translated.

Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the (a) content and (b) implications of the resignation speech of Dr. David Kay as the leader of the Iraq Survey Group. [152317]

Mr. MacShane: My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister has announced that an inquiry will be instigated to look into the question of the intelligence received concerning Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, and how it was interpreted. Dr. Kay's statement will clearly be of interest to the inquiry.

Sir Menzies Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the legal personality is of the Coalition Provisional Authority; and if he will make a statement. [152339]

Mr. Straw: As noted in Security Council Resolution 1483 of 22 May 2003, the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) was established to exercise the specific authorities, responsibilities and obligations under international law of the occupying powers. The authority of the CPA is set out in CPA Regulation No. 1, copies of which will be placed in the Library of the House.

Sir Menzies Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs in what capacity and on whose behalf UK secondees to the Coalition Provisional Authority are acting; who pays their (a) salaries and (b) expenses; to whom they are answerable for their activities; and if he will make a statement. [152340]

Mr. Straw: Staff seconded by HMG to the Coalition Provisional Authority are working in several areas of governance, assisting in reconstruction and building Iraqi government capacity. They are acting on behalf of the Coalition Provisional Authority. They remain answerable to HMG for what they do. HMG pays their salaries, travel costs and other incidental expenses. The US government funds the provision of food and other basic services to all Coalition Provisional Authority staff.

Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many technically trained Arabic speakers are members of the Iraq Survey Group; how many of the Arabic speakers are from the United Kingdom; and what estimate he has made of how long it will take to translate each of the documents obtained by the ISG on Iraq's military programmes that are deemed relevant to weapons of mass destruction. [153058]

Mr. MacShane: There are currently 320 technically-trained Arabic speakers with the Iraq Survey Group, of whom three are from the United Kingdom.

The Iraq Survey Group is still collecting documents. The time that it will take to translate such documents will vary according to the condition of any such documents and whether they are hand-written or typed. The best estimate available is that translation will take

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on average one hour per page of text. It is not possible, however, to give any firm indication of how long any translation work might take or of what the eventual total volume of documents requiring translation might be.

Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what measures are in place to ensure that women will be fairly represented in the first Iraqi parliament. [153255]

Mr. Rammell: The Iraqi Governing Council (IGC) is overseeing the drafting of a Transitional Administrative Law (TAL) to be completed by the end of February 2004. We are encouraging the IGC to ensure that the TAL includes provisions for the fair representation of women in the Transitional National Assembly.

Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether gender criteria will be applied to the selection of candidates for the forthcoming Iraqi parliament. [153256]

Mr. Rammell: This is a matter for the Iraqi Governing Council (IGC), which is overseeing the drafting of a Transitional Administrative Law (TAL) to include criteria for the selection of candidates to the Transitional National Assembly (TNA). We are encouraging the IGC to use the TAL to promote the fair representation of women in the TNA.

Sir John Stanley: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs on what date he first became aware to which Iraqi weapons the 45-minutes claim in the Iraq weapons of mass destruction dossier applied. [154182]

Mr. Straw: I first became aware of 'the 45-minute claim' when I read early drafts of the Government's dossier and the Joint Intelligence Committee's assessment dated 9 September 2002. The Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) in their report of 9 September 2003 (CM 5972) published, at paragraph 50, the relevant passage from the assessment. This stated: "Intelligence also indicates that chemical and biological munitions could be with military units and ready for firing within 20–45 minutes." The ISC also commented (para 57): "The JIC did not know precisely which munitions could be deployed from where to where and the context of the intelligence was not included in the JIC Assessment". I became aware that the intelligence behind this assessment referred to battlefield weapons in June 2003.

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