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23 Feb 2004 : Column 86W—continued
Israel
Dr. Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has made to the Israeli Government concerning Israel's citizenship law. [154195]
Mr. Rammell: The British Embassy in Tel Aviv last lobbied the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the issue of citizenship on 11 August 2003. Embassy staff raised concerns about the implementation of the revised citizenship law and the discriminatory effect it would have on certain sectors of the population, including many Palestinians. We continue to monitor the situation closely.
Lord Hutton's Report
Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will reconcile paragraph 14 of "A Further Response of the Secretary
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of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs to the Ninth Report of the Foreign Affairs Committee's Session 2002–03" (Cm 6123) with Appendix 13 of the Hutton Report. [153747]
Mr. Mullin: No reconciliation is called for. Lord Hutton's conclusion on the basis of the evidence was clear:
"As the dossier was one to be presented to, and read by, Parliament and the public, and was not an intelligence assessment to be considered only by the Government, I do not consider that it was improper for Mr. Scarlett and the JIC to take into account suggestions as to drafting made by 10 Downing Street and to adopt those suggestions if they were consistent with the intelligence available to the JIC." (Paragraph 228 (7) of Lord Hutton's Report of the Inquiry into the Circumstances Surrounding the Death of Dr. David Kelly CMG.)
MEPs and EU Officials
Mr. Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with other EU Foreign Ministers about (a) the harmonisation of salaries for MEPs and (b) ensuring greater transparency in the travel expenses of MEPs and EU officials. [155044]
Mr. MacShane: Salaries and travel expenses for MEPs were most recently discussed at the General Affairs and External Relations Council on 27 January, where the Council failed to reach agreement on a revised Statute for MEPs. We nonetheless hope the European Parliament will implement its Expenses Regulation—which it can do with or without a Statute—so reforming its travel expenses system.
Draft revised Staff Regulations for all EU officials are currently being discussed at working group level; they have not been discussed by the Council. We hope that they will be implemented on 1 May and will make the travel expenses system for EU officials simpler and more transparent.
Middle East
Mr. Tynan: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps the Government have taken to secure a Middle East free of weapons of mass destruction and their delivery systems as envisaged in UN Security Council Resolution 1284, in respect of (a) Israel and (b) Syria. [155562]
Mr. Mullin: The Government have consistently supported Resolutions in the UN General Assembly calling for the establishment of a zone free of weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East.
We take every available opportunity to urge all states in the region to sign, ratify and abide by the obligations of all Treaties and Conventions covering the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and the means for their delivery.
Mozambique
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the (a) independence and (b) integrity of the Mozambican judicial system. [155310]
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Mr. Mullin: The independence of the Mozambican judiciary is enshrined in Section 1, Article 164 of the Mozambican constitution. This states that, "In the discharge of their functions, judges are independent and only owe obedience to the law". The Government of Mozambique is committed to ensuring an independent and fair judicial system.
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will place in the Library the list lodged with his Department of United Kingdom claimants for property appropriated without compensation by the Mozambique Government since 1975. [155311]
Mr. Mullin: Under Exemption 15 (Statutory and other restrictions: Data Protection Act in this case) of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information, the Government is prohibited from placing in the Library the list of UK claimants for property appropriated without compensation by the Mozambique Government since 1975 without the written permission of all those listed.
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the occasions in the last 12 months in which the issue of claims for compensation for confiscated property have been raised with the Mozambican authorities. [155312]
Mr. Mullin: Our High Commission in Maputo last raised the issue of claims for compensation for confiscated property with the Mozambican authorities in July 2003. We will continue to raise the matter with the Mozambicans as and when appropriate opportunities present themselves.
Nigeria
Mr. Tynan: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the acquisition of ballistic missiles and associated technology by Nigeria from North Korea. [155563]
Mr. MacShane: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Blaby (Mr. Robathan) on 10 February 2004, Official Report, column 1305W.
North Korea
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what evaluation he has made of recent evidence from North Korea of continuing human rights abuses, with specific reference to use of political prisoners to test chemical weapons. [155572]
Mr. Mullin: We fully share my hon. Friend's concerns about reports of continued and widespread human rights violations in North Korea, and we raise the issue regularly with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) authorities. My hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Bill Rammell) raised the allegations concerning chemical weapons tested on North Korean prisoners with the DPRK Ambassador on 12 February and urged the DPRK government to allow independent monitors access to the country to verify or disprove such allegations, as called for in the Resolution adopted by the UN Commission on Human
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Rights in 2003. We will continue to encourage the DPRK government to co-operate fully with UN human rights mechanisms.
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with the Government of China on its policy of sending back North Korean refugees. [155613]
Mr. Mullin: We regularly raise the issue of North Korean refugees with the Chinese, including at the biannual UK/China Human Rights Dialogue. At the last round of the Dialogue, on 10/11 November 2003, we urged China to allow the UNHCR access to the border areas and to observe its obligations under the 1951 Refugee Convention. In addition, my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Bill Rammell) raised the issue with the Chinese Vice-Foreign Minister Zhang Yesui in December 2003.
We will continue to encourage China's greater co-operation with the UNHCR on this issue.
Parliamentary Questions
Mr. Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many days on average his Department took in Session 2002–03 to give a substantive answer to a parliamentary question for ordinary written answer; and what the greatest number of days taken to answer such a question was. [155925]
Mr. Straw: My Department took an average of four days to answer parliamentary questions for ordinary written answer in Session 2002–03, within the five working day Parliamentary guidelines.
The greatest number of days taken to provide an ordinary written answer in Session 2002–03 is 102 working days, which includes the summer recess.
Recruitment Advertising
Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what his Department's expenditure on recruitment advertising was in each of the last three years, broken down by publication; and what proportion of such expenditure was (a) to advertise vacant posts and (b) in the form of other general recruitment advertising. [155530]
Mr. Mullin: The information requested is as follows:
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| Publication | Cost |
|---|---|
| Hobsons Career Guide for Women 2003 | |
| Hobsons Career Guide for Students with Disabilities 2003 | |
| Hobsons Career Guide for Ethnic Minorities 2003 | 82,500.00 |
| Hobsons Diversity Handbook | |
| www.hobsons.com microsite | |
| Newsletters for Ethnic Minority students | |
| KAL—Careers Advice for Ethnic Minority Graduates | |
| Number Ten—Careers Advice for Women Graduates | |
| Arberry Profile—Careers Advice for Disabled Graduates | 81,114.00 |
| Recruitment Brochures | |
| Spectrum—Careers Advice for Ethnic Minority 16 to 19-year-olds | |
| Headstart | 3,850.00 |
| Doctor Job's Little Black Book | 4,450.00 |
| www.doctorjob.com employer profile | |
| National Guide to Black History Month | 3,100.00 |
| Futures/Network News | 5,600.00 |
| Employment Opportunities website and newsletter | 2,000.00 |
| Black and Asian Graduate website | 495.00 |
| Total | 183,109.00 |
Total cost of advertising April 2002 to March 2003: £716,234.16.
We advertise widely for jobs in the Diplomatic Service and specialist positions, as well as general careers advertisements placed in diversity publications and websites. The placement of adverts is reviewed regularly according to the nature of the position, cost and response from previous advertisements. The above breakdown for the years 2000–02 could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
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