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Iran

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the latest assessment of Iran's capability to produce weapons of mass destruction. [163976]

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Mr. MacShane: We continue to have concerns about Iran's work on uranium enrichment, which, under the agreement signed by Iran and the Foreign Ministers of France, Germany and the United Kingdom on 21 October 2003, Iran undertook to suspend. We welcome Iran's recent decision to allow inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency to have access to Iranian nuclear facilities, and hope that Iran will co-operate fully with them.

We judge that Iran also has the capability and the facilities to produce both chemical and biological weapons. Iran is a State Party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) and the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention. Upon accession to the CWC, Iran declared that it had produced chemical weapons in the past and that it had destroyed them.

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on human rights in Iran, with reference to the recent election. [163977]

Mr. Rammell: Over the last 10 years Iran has made progress towards greater political freedom. But the flawed parliamentary elections held on 20 February were a clear setback.

On 23 February, EU Foreign Ministers expressed their deep regret and disappointment that large numbers of candidates, including many sitting deputies, had been prevented from standing, thus making impossible a genuine democratic choice by the Iranian people. For elections in any country to be regarded as free and fair, electors must have a chance to vote for candidates with a range of views.

Kashmir

Mr. Pike: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had in Pakistan regarding talks to resolve the Kashmir issue and continue the work on improving Indo-Pakistan relations. [164129]

Mr. Straw: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave the hon. Member for Mid-Worcestershire (Mr. Luff) earlier today.

We warmly welcome the recent talks between India and Pakistan where they agreed an agenda and timetable for substantive talks, including on the issue of Kashmir. During my recent visits to India and Pakistan, I congratulated President Musharraf, Deputy Prime Minister Advani and Foreign Ministers Kasuri and Sinha on this breakthrough and assured them of our full support as they take this process forward. We recognise that these talks, due to begin after the Indian general election, will be a step in a long and difficult process. We hope that they will, in due course, lead to a durable settlement of all the outstanding issues, including Kashmir.

Korean Peninsula

Mr. Ben Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has held with his Chinese counterpart on nuclear proliferation on the Korean Peninsula. [163894]

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Mr. MacShane: We have a regular dialogue, at both ministerial and official level, with the Government of China on a range of issues of mutual concern. This includes discussion of proliferation on the Korean Peninsula.

Middle East

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports he has received on the removal of funds by the Israeli Government from Palestinian and Jordanian banks in Ramallah in raids in February. [163915]

Mr. Rammell: The Government have received accounts of the Israeli action against banks in Ramallah in February from both the Israeli and Palestinian authorities. The Government understand the need to stop the financing of terrorist groups but are concerned that this action may undermine steps being taken on this issue by the Palestinian Authority.

Poppy Production (Afghanistan)

Mr. Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what progress his Department is making in meeting the target of cutting poppy production in Afghanistan. [164144]

Mr. Rammell : The UK is supporting the Afghan Government in their efforts to eliminate poppy production in Afghanistan.

We have committed £70 million over three years and have a dedicated counter narcotics team in Kabul. According to the United Nations annual poppy crop survey in Afghanistan, the level of opium cultivation in Afghanistan in 2003 increased to 80,000 hectares from 74,000 hectares in 2002. While unwelcome, this is not unexpected. Experience of counter-narcotic policies in other countries, such as Pakistan and Thailand where production started from a much lower level and where there was greater central state control, shows production tends to increase before it decreases.

Increasing security and governance remains key to progress.

CABINET OFFICE

BACS

Brian White: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what progress his Department has made to manage the changeover from the Bank Automated Clearing System to the new BACSTEL-IP system for electronic payments. [164320]

Mr. Alexander: The Cabinet Office is working with software suppliers and is drawing up a migration plan as recommended in the guidance issued by the Office of the Paymaster General (OPG) to change over the Bank Automated clearing system to the new BACSTEL-IP system by December 2005.

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CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT

Digital Television

Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Lichfield (Michael Fabricant) of 8 March 2004, Official Report, column 1293W, on Digital Television when she plans to undertake a public consultation on the timetable for switching off analogue television services. [164680]

Estelle Morris: We are working with stakeholders including consumer groups, to have a better understanding of the process of switchover and the options available and we will make an announcement about consultation in due course.

Honours (Rugby)

Mr. Hinchliffe: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport pursuant to her answer of 17 March 2004, Official Report, column 316W, on Sports (Honours), what the reasons are for the differences between the number of honours awarded over the last five years for sporting involvement in rugby league and rugby union; and if she will make a statement. [163960]

Mr. Caborn: Decisions made by the honours committee are made on the basis of individual merit. I cannot comment on individual cases.

National Lottery

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what steps have been taken in response to the National Audit Office Report by the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts, to improve the distribution of Lottery money across the regions; and if she will make a statement. [164631]

Estelle Morris: NESTA has recruited a National and Regional Co-ordinator to develop and implement a strategic approach to ensuring equality of access to NESTA's programmes across the UK.

NESTA has commissioned research to examine how its processes might be refined to address regional imbalance and the report options for action will be considered by NESTA's Board of Trustees in April.

Physical Education

Mr. Flook: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what proportion of schoolchildren in Taunton participated in two or more hours of quality physical education and exercise in each week in the latest six months for which figures are available. [164560]

Mr. Caborn: The information is not held in the format requested and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. The Impact of School Sport Partnerships' (published in March 2004 by DfES and DCMS) set out the early funding of the 2003–04 PE, School Sport and Club Links survey. Overall 61 per cent. of pupils in phase 1 school sport partnership schools spend at least two hours in a typical week on high quality PE and school sport within and beyond the

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curriculum. A copy of the report has been placed in the House of Commons Library. The results of the full survey will be published in April.

Sport and Physical Activity Board

Mr. Hinchliffe: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport on how many occasions the cross-departmental Sport and Physical Activity Board has met. [164571]

Mr. Caborn: The Activity Co-ordination Team, formerly the Sport and Physical Activity Board, which I jointly chair with my hon. Friend the Minister for Public Health has met on five occasions since July 2003.

DEFENCE

Challenger 2

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many Challenger 2 tanks he plans to sell; and to which countries. [163853]

Mr. Ingram: There are currently no plans to sell Challenger 2 tanks.

Defence Medicine Centre

Mr. Viggers: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the reason is for the cancellation of the plan to develop a Royal College of Defence Medicine Centre at Selly Oak, Birmingham; and what alternative plans there are to provide for the centre. [164052]

Mr. Caplin: We remain committed to developing the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine in the Birmingham area. Use of the Selly Oak site for this purpose has not been ruled out and remains one of a number of options currently under consideration.

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