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4 May 2004 : Column 1438W—continued

Conflict Prevention Pool

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the progress of the independent evaluations of the Global Conflict Prevention Pool and the African Conflict Prevention Pool. [170087]

Mr. Rammell: The joint external evaluation of the Africa Conflict Prevention Pool and the Global Conflict Prevention Pool began in June 2003. The fact-finding phase was completed in December 2003 and a final draft report including a synthesis of the main findings and recommendations has now been produced.

The evaluators concluded that the Conflict Prevention Pools are funding worthwhile activities, which make positive contributions to effective conflict prevention, and that the progress achieved through the Pools mechanisms is significant enough to justify their continuation. They also considered that the Pools were demonstrating increasingly good joined-up working between the three Departments.

The interim conclusions of the evaluation helped inform recent work on the Spending Review 2004 process.

Final editing of the Evaluation report is now being done. In summer 2004, the Evaluation, and the Government's response to it, will be published and made available to the House.

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how often the joint steering team responsible for the Global Conflict Prevention Pool has met in each year since 2001–02. [170088]

Mr. Rammell: The Steering Team of the Global Conflict Prevention Pool (GCPP) comprises officials from FCO, MOD and DfID as well as representatives of HM Treasury and Cabinet Office.
 
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They have met, usually fortnightly, throughout each year since the GCPP's inception in April 2001, although at busier times they meet every week.

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what funds were allocated to the (a) Global Conflict Prevention Pool and (b) African Conflict Prevention Pool in each year since 2001–02; and how much was spent in each year. [170090]

Mr. Rammell: The budget and spend information requested for (a) The Global Conflict Prevention Pool (GCPP) is as follows:
To nearest £ million

Financial yearFunds allocatedSpend
2001–026050
2002–036866
2003–0474(22)86


(22) Current forecast—departmental accounts to be finalised in summer 2004.
Note:
Does not include Peacekeeping figures.




The budget and spend information requested for (b) The Africa Conflict Prevention Pool (ACPP) is as follows:
To nearest £ million

Financial yearFunds allocatedSpend
2001–025043
2002–035045
2003–0450(23)40+


(23) Current forecast—departmental accounts to be finalised in summer 2004.
Note:
Does not include Peacekeeping figures.




Hong Kong

Mr. Ben Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the decision of the National People's Congress Standing Committee on 26 April to refuse to introduce universal suffrage for the election of the Hong Kong Chief Executive in 2007. [169852]

Mr. Rammell: On 26 April, I issued a press release about the Chinese National People's Congress decision on constitutional development in Hong Kong.

The record of the statement can be found on the British Consulate General in Hong Kong's website at www.britishconsulate.org.hk/english/press/pr040426.htm.

Iraq

Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions his Department had on how the UN Oil For Food programme in Iraq was audited. [169700]

Mr. Rammell: The management and administration of the Oil For Food (OFF) programme was carried out by the UN's Office of the Iraq Programme under a mandate from UN Security Council resolutions. Regular reports were made to and discussed by the UN
 
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Security Council. In light of on-going allegations of corruption during the lifetime of the OFF programme, the UK fully supports the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 1538 (21 April 2004) endorsing a high-level independent inquiry into the management and administration of the programme, and will co-operate fully with that inquiry.

Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with other UN Security Council members on the fee levied by the UN for operating the Oil For Food programme in Iraq. [169701]

Mr. Rammell: The Government had regular discussions with the UK's Security Council partners on all aspects of the operation of the Oil For Food (OFF) programme until it ended on 21 November 2003. In light of ongoing allegations of corruption during the lifetime of the OFF programme, the UK fully supports the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 1538 (21 April 2004) endorsing a high-level independent inquiry into the management and administration of the programme, and will co-operate fully with that inquiry.

Ministerial Visits

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the overseas visits made by each Minister in his Department in financial year 2003–04. [169754]

Mr. Straw: Since 1999 the Government have published an annual list of all visits undertaken by Cabinet Ministers costing £500 or more during each financial year. The details for the financial year 2003–04 will be published as soon as possible. During the financial year 2003–04 other Foreign and Commonwealth Office Ministers made the following overseas visits:
Dr. Denis MacShane MP, Minister of State

DateDestinationPurpose of trip
3 April 2003RigaJoint bilateral visit to Latvia with French Europe Minister
6–8 April 2003Belgrade. Pristina. SkopjeBilateral visits to the Balkans
14 April 2003LuxembourgGeneral Affairs and External Relations Council
16–17 April 2003AthensInformal European Council, Signature of the Accession Treaty and European Conference
29 April 2003The HagueAttend Conference on Chemical Weapons Convention
5 May 2003BrusselsBilateral
10–12 May 2003VallettaBilateral
15–16 May 2003BerlinKonigswinter Conference
19 May 2003BrusselsGeneral Affairs and External Relations Council
29–31 May 2003WarsawBilateral
6 June 2003MadridBilateral
19–21 June 2003Porto CarasEuropean Council and EU/Western Balkans Summit
26 June 2003RomeBilateral
30 June 2003AmsterdamApeldoorn Conference
3–4 July 2003GibraltarBilateral
3–5 September 2003Oslo and HelsinkiBilaterals
14–15 September 2003KievBilateral
19–21 September 2003PontignanoPontignano Conference
21–22 September 2003Paris and StrasbourgBilaterals
29 September 2003BrusselsGeneral Affairs and External Relations Council
7–11 October 2003Bucharest. Sofia and HydraBucharest and Sofia: Bilaterals Hydra: Hydra Conference
16–17 October 2003BrusselsEuropean Council
13–15 November 2003Madrid and BerlinMadrid: Bilateral Berlin: BMW European Forum
17–18 November 2003BrusselsGeneral Affairs and External Relations Council
1–4 December 2003Maastricht and NaplesOSCE Ministerial Council in The Netherlands and Euromed Conference in Italy
8 December 2003BrusselsGeneral Affairs and External Relations Council
11–13 December 2003BrusselsEuropean Council
12–14 January 2004Ankara. Istanbul and IzmirBilateral
20 January 2004ParisBilateral
26 January 2004BrusselsGeneral Affairs and External Relations Council
30 January 2004BerlinBilateral
6–8 February 2004MadridBilateral
10 February 2004ViennaBilateral
17–19 February 2004AmsterdamBilateral
23–24 February 2004BerneBilateral
27–28 February 2004VeniceAspen European Dialogue Conference
3–4 March 2004StockholmBilateral
5 March 2004SkopjeFuneral of Macedonian President
25–26 March 2004BrusselsBilateral visit and to attend the European Council

 
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Mike O'Brien MP, Minister of State

DateDestinationPurpose of trip
1 April 2003NATO SHAPE, BelgiumMeetings with UK Military Representation and SACEUR
12–14 April 2003Tehran, DamascusBilaterals
26–29 April 2003BaghdadCentral Iraq Conference
19–21 May 2003AlgiersBilateral
22 May 2003ParisConference on Drug Routes
2–5 June 2003JakartaBilateral
6 July 2003PalermoInformal EU Trade Ministers Conference
19–21 July 2003BeijingAccompanying the Prime Minister and Trade Delegation on bilateral visit to China
22–25 July 2003BaliASEM Foreign Ministers' Meeting
8–16 September 2003CancunWTO Ministerial Conference
16 October 2003BerlinBilateral
21–24 October 2003KabulBilateral
2–4 November 2003WashingtonBilateral
8–12 December 2003Islamabad and KarachiBilaterals
4–8 January 2004New Delhi and HyderabadBilaterals
26 January 2004CannesAttend MIDEM (Music Industry event)
10–12 February 2004Casablanca and RabatBilaterals
15–18 March 2004Ho Chi Minh City and HanoiBilaterals
22–23 March 2004WarsawBilateral









 
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Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean, Minister of State

DateDestinationPurpose of trip
30 April 2003ParisOECD Trade Ministerial
16 May 03WashingtonBilateral
15–15 July 2003JordanBilateral
3 September 2003ViennaComprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Conference
15–18 September 2003Morocco and TunisiaBilateral
23–25 September 2003New YorkUnited Nations General Assembly
29 September to 1 October 2003IsraelBilateral
8–9 October 2003IraqBilateral
22–24 October 2003MadridIraq Donors' Conference
18–20 November 2003LebanonBilateral
1–2 December 2003IstanbulResponse to the terrorist attacks against the British Consulate General and HSBC Bank
4 December 2003BrusselsNATO Foreign Ministerial
8–9 December 2003SyriaBilateral
21–23 January 2004Occupied TerritoriesBilateral
23–26 February 2004Bahrain and QatarBilateral
9–11 March 2004JordanBilateral
19–19 March 2004IraqBilateral

Baroness Amos of Asthal, the then ParliamentaryUnder-Secretary of State

DateDestinationPurpose of trip
1–6 April 2003Botswana and South AfricaBilaterals
14–17 April 2003MaliG8 Meeting
5–8 May 2003Dominican RepublicBilateral

Chris Mullin MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State

DateDestinationPurpose of trip
21–25 July 2003Ghana, Nigeria and Sierra LeoneBilaterals
28 October to 5 November 2003Kenya and South AfricaBilaterals
2–8 December 03AbujaCommonwealth Heads of Government meeting
12–20 January 2004Ethiopia. Djibouti and EritreaBilaterals
3–6 February 2004Washington and New YorkLiberia Donors' Conference
23–24 February 2004ParisBilateral to discuss Africa

Bill Rammell MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State

DateDestinationPurpose of trip
31 March to 1 April 2003WashingtonBilateral
11–15 May 2003Brazil and ColombiaFundacion Euroamerica Conference
21 May 2003StockholmG8 Global Partnership on WMD—Signing MNEPR Treaty
26–27 May 2003CreteEuromed Conference
12–13 June 2003New YorkConflict Prevention Conference, International Peace Academy
18 June 2003MadridBilateral
22–27 July 2003KabulBilateral
6–21 August 2003Papua New Guinea, Australia. New Zealand and Solomon IslandsBilateral and attendance at the Pacific Islands Forum (New Zealand)
20–24 September 2003New YorkUnited Nations General Assembly bilateral meetings
9- 10 October 2003DublinAddress to Trinity College
16 October 2003RomeEU Ministerial meeting
26–31 October 2003Mexico and MajorcaMexico: Bilaterals Majorca: Launch of the Travel Foundation for Sustainable Tourism
14 November 2003WashingtonBilaterals on Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea, Counter-Narcotics and UN Reform
29 November to 3 December 2003Falkland Islands and ChileFalkland Islands: meetings Chile: Bilateral
16–19 December 2003Beijing and Hong KongBeijing: Bilaterals and a speech at the Central Party School Hong Kong: Bilaterals
13–18 January 2004Guatemala and BelizeJoint trip with Spanish Minister Cortes to Guatemala to attend the swearing-in ceremony of President Berger. Bilaterals in Guatemala and Belize.
25–26 January 2004StockholmStockholm International Forum preventing Genocide: Threats and Responsibilities
1–3 February 2004Washington and New YorkWashington: Bilaterals New York: Bilaterals and a speech on the UN
15–20 February 2004Argentina and UruguayBilaterals
2–5 March 2004Jamaica, Barbados and TrinidadJamaica: Round table with CARICOM and Bilaterals Barbados and Trinidad: Bilaterals
18 March 2004GenevaUNCHR

 
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