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FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Ethiopia (Anuak People)

Ann McKechin: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what action the Government propose to take pursuant to Article 2 of the 2004 Stockholm International Forum Declaration regarding the Anuak people of Ethiopia. [170047]

Mr. Mullin: We are concerned about the violence in Gambella and the loss of life among the Anuak people there. Our ambassador in Addis Ababa raised our concerns with the Ethiopian Prime Minister on 13 April and I plan to raise the matter with Prime Minister Meles in London on 5 May.

EU Constitution

Adam Price: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what rights will be afforded to elected regional assemblies and parliaments under the proposed draft EU Constitution. [170183]

Mr. MacShane: The draft Constitutional Treaty does not intervene in member states' internal constitutional arrangements. However, the draft Constitutional Treaty does introduce a mechanism for national parliaments to monitor the application of subsidiarity, and provides for national parliaments to consult regional parliaments with legislative powers on the application of that mechanism.
 
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Iraq

Sir Menzies Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the countries to which Iraqi oil has been sold, stating the volume in each case; and if he will make a statement. [169156]

Mr. Straw: The Iraqi State Oil Marketing Organisation (SOMO) is the body responsible for the sale of Iraqi oil on the international market. Information on the countries to which Iraqi oil has been sold since April 2003 and the volume in each case has not been published by the SOMO and is not in the public domain.

Information on the countries to which Iraqi oil was sold before April 2003 under the Oil for Food programme is available on the US Department of Energy—Energy Information Administration website at http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/ipsr/t417.xls.

Liberia

John Barrett: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the success or otherwise of the demobilisation effort in Liberia; and if he will make a statement. [169901]

Mr. Mullin: The UN Mission in Liberia restarted the disarmament and demobilisation of all sides in the Liberian conflict on 15 April 2004. 18,415 fighters had already been disarmed since the conflict ended. Since April a further 4,924 former combatants have entered the disarmament and demobilisation process. There have been no reports of any major security incidents. In the long term, the real test will be how effectively those who have been disarmed and demobilised can be reintegrated and rehabilitated back into Liberian society.

Sudan

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will consult other members of the United Nations Security Council with a view to a resolution under Chapter VII of the Charter to address the situation in Darfur, Sudan. [169440]

Mr. Mullin: On 8 April the Sudanese Government and the Sudan Liberation Movement and Justice and Equality Movement signed a ceasefire agreement.

Our priority now is to encourage the parties to implement the agreement. We do not consider that a Resolution under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter would be appropriate. However we remain in close contact with other Security Council members about Darfur. The UN Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs briefed the Security Council about Darfur on 2 April, and we expect that there will be another briefing soon.

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what developments have been made to establish a clear international mechanism to monitor (a) the attack on civilians and (b) the access of agencies providing humanitarian assistance in Darfur, Sudan. [169325]

 
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Mr. Mullin: The 8 April Ceasefire Agreement provides for a Ceasefire Commission, with a role for the international community. We hope that such a monitoring mechanism will help ensure the protection of civilians and also the effective disbursement of humanitarian assistance. We are in close contact with the parties and other members of the international community, including the African Union, to try to help set up such a monitoring mechanism as quickly as possible. The AU chaired a meeting on this matter in Addis Ababa on 19–20 April, and we understand that they are currently in consultation with the parties. We are in almost daily contact with the Government of Sudan and the Darfur groups about the crisis in Darfur.

HEALTH

Drug Services

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what his latest estimate is of the number of clients being managed by each drug service in England; and if he will make a statement. [163899]

Miss Melanie Johnson: The Department does not collect this information centrally.

The latest national data for December 2003 show that there are 140,900 drug misusers in treatment, a 41 per cent. increase on the 1998–99 baseline. These figures indicate that we are on track to meet the Government's target of doubling the numbers of drug misusers in treatment by 2008.

Food Additives

Phil Sawford: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what action he has taken to encourage the (a) reduction and (b) removal of additives from food. [166616]

Miss Melanie Johnson: I am advised by the Food Standards Agency that legislation on food additives is harmonised throughout the European Union. Food additives are only authorised following a rigorous safety assessment by independent scientific experts.

As part of the authorisation process limits are established to restrict the level at which an additive can be added to food. These legal limits are set to ensure that safety levels are not exceeded and that additives are only added at the minimum level necessary to achieve their intended technological function.

When additives are used in food, they must be declared in the list of ingredients, either by name or E number. There are no plans to encourage the removal of additives from food.

Abortion

Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many pregnancies have been terminated at four weeks gestation in the last five years for which statistics are available; and if he will make a statement. [169011]

 
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Miss Melanie Johnson: The information requested is shown in the table.
Terminations performed at four weeks gestation inEngland and Wales.

	Number
1998	264
1999	290
2000	185
2001	169
2002	187

Source:
Statistics Division, Department of Health.

The most common gestation period at which terminations are carried out is eight weeks.

Agency Nurses (Weston Area)

Brian Cotter: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much money was spent by the Weston Area Health NHS Trust on agency nurses in each year since 1997. [167525]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The table shows expenditure by the Weston Area Health National Health Service Trust for non-NHS nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff from 1997–98 to 2002–03.

	Expenditure (£)
1997–98	82,802
1998–99	138,981
1999–2000	164,014
2000–01	506,890
2001–02	1,306,195
2002–03	2,239,507

Source:
Annual financial returns of NHS Trusts1997–87 to 2002–03

Autism

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the percentage of autistic spectrum disorder sufferers of working age who are in full-time employment. [167713]

Maria Eagle: I have been asked to reply.

We have made no estimate of the percentage of people living with autistic spectrum disorder of working age who are in full-time employment.

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