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Zimbabwe

Ms Keeble: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the arrest of the Member of Parliament Roy Bennet following an incident in the Zimbabwean Parliament. [176062]

Mr. Mullin: Mr. Bennett was briefly detained on 18 May after an incident with ZANU (PF) Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa in the Zimbabwean Parliament. The Minister had called Bennett's forefathers "thieves and murderers". Bennett had said that he was unable to forgive the Government of Zimbabwe for acquiring his farm despite six court orders prohibiting this. The incident is to be investigated by the Zimbabwe Parliament's privileges committee, including MPs from both parties.

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when he last discussed the threat to safety of members of the Movement for Democratic Change in Zimbabwe with the Secretary General of the Commonwealth. [176606]

Mr. Mullin: The Government of Zimbabwe withdrew from the Commonwealth on 7 December 2003. The Commonwealth Secretary General is not in a position to raise the treatment of political opponents with the Government of Zimbabwe. But Foreign and Commonwealth Office officials remain in close touch with the Commonwealth Secretariat on developments in Zimbabwe. My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary continues to raise our concerns about political violence in Zimbabwe with ministers in Europe, the USA, Africa and elsewhere.

SOLICITOR-GENERAL

Alleged Offenders (Photographs)

Mr. Grieve: To ask the Solicitor-General whether the Law Officers have made representations to the Home Office on the police facilitating the publication of photographs of alleged offenders taken at the time of their arrest and before charge through inviting selected journalists to attend at the apprehension of the alleged offenders. [175514]

The Solicitor-General: The Law Officers have not made any representations to the Home Office on the police facilitating the publication of the photographs of
 
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alleged offenders taken at the time of their arrest and before charge through inviting selected journalists to attend at the apprehension of the alleged offenders.

Crown Prosecution Service

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Solicitor-General if she will make a statement on the effectiveness of Merseyside Crown Prosecution Service's Equality and Diversity Action Plan. [170341]

The Solicitor-General: CPS Merseyside's Equality and Diversity Action Plan aims to: increase the involvement of the Crown Prosecution Service in the local community; ensure decision making in all cases is fair regardless of background; assist staff in understanding and applying equality and diversity issues; provide opportunities to encourage people to join the Crown Prosecution Service and to provide full training for them.

The action plan is monitored and updated regularly by managers within CPS Merseyside.

CPS Merseyside has already made significant progress towards these goals. Staff regularly participate in a "Compact Scheme" in schools throughout Liverpool, and recently in Knowsley, in order to assist students to draft applications for employment and with mock interviews. This has proved particularly innovative and successful.

The population of black and minority ethnic and disabled staff within CPS Merseyside is still slightly below the level within Merseyside's working population and, in order to seek to address this issue, CPS Merseyside staff have recently participated in several initiatives to engage with local minority communities, including: "A Fair Play for Jobs" event in March 2004 held in Toxteth to target the black and minority ethnic communities; and, an "Action for Transition" event at Everton Football Club, to engage with disabled people.

The area has established a relationship with the Merseyside Racial Harassment Prevention Unit, which has close ties with the local BME communities. The area held a regional launch event for the CPS policy on racist and religious crime for criminal justice agencies and community groups.

At a recent ceremony at the Liverpool Town Hall to host the CPS National Equality and Diversity Awards, the Director of Public Prosecutions made two awards to staff from CPS Merseyside as representatives of inter-agency groups.

Operation Antler

Mr. Key: To ask the Solicitor-General if she will place in the Library the document sent by the Crown Prosecution Service to those questioned in connection with Operation Antler, explaining the Law Officers' decision on prosecutions. [146574]

The Solicitor-General: Operation Antler is the name given to an investigation into allegations made by ex-Servicemen who volunteered to participate in research experiments at Porton Down. Wiltshire police commenced the investigation in 1999, with the assistance of Ministry of Defence police officers.
 
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The Crown Prosecution Service wrote to 66 volunteers on 7 July 2003 informing them that there was insufficient evidence to prosecute and that a further letter would follow given detailed reasons for the decision.

On 18 December 2003, the Crown Prosecution Service wrote to each of the 66 volunteers explaining the reason not to prosecute. Each volunteer received an individual letter discussing the evidence in their particular case and containing personal information such as that volunteer's medical history.

These letters are private correspondence between the Crown Prosecution Service and the volunteers and have not been placed in the Library. The Crown Prosecution Service has, however, produced an account of the evidence it has considered, the relevant law and its conclusions. A copy of this has been placed in the Library.

TRANSPORT

A249

Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when work on the A249 Iwade to Queenborough improvement scheme set out in the Highways Agency Business Plan 2004–05 is expected to start. [176070]

Mr. Darling: My hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport (Mr. Jamieson) attended the Start of Works Ceremony for the A249 Iwade Bypass to Queenborough Improvement Scheme on 29 April 2004 and performed the first stage of the excavation of the foundations for the first pier of the new Swale Bridge. The site is being prepared for the main construction works, which started on 1 June 2004.

A50

Mr. Todd: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what representations have been made to the Government Office of the East Midlands concerning the funding for completing the road linking the A50 at the A514 junction at Chellaston with Wilmore Road in Derby. [176749]

Mr. McNulty: None.

Bedford Park

Ann Keen: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the implications are for the Bedford Park Conservation Area in Chiswick of the proposed Crossrail development. [176095]

Mr. McNulty: This is a matter for Cross London Rail Links Ltd. (CLRL), the developer of the proposed scheme. I understand that CLRL is currently developing an Environmental Impact Assessment for areas covered by its route proposals.

Crime (Public Transport)

Mr. Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many crimes were committed on
 
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London Underground in each year since 1997; and how many were (a) assaults, (b) of a sexual nature and (c) robberies. [175461]

Mr. McNulty: The British Transport Police (BTP) have provided the following information on crimes recorded on London Underground in each year since 1998; information is not readily available for earlier than 1998.

	Assaults	Sexual offences	Robberies	Passenger trips (million)
1998–99	4,549	1,214	2,209	866
1999–2000	5,008	1,113	2,456	927
2000–01	4,813	1,040	2,700	970
2001–02	5,061	1,054	3,408	953
2002–03	6,317	1,032	2,304	942
2003–04	7,235	1,156	2,590	947

International Shipping and Ports Security Code

John Thurso: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether he expects any flag carriers to be prevented from entering United Kingdom ports after the International Shipping and Ports Security Code comes into force. [176039]

Mr. Jamieson: The International Ship and Port Security (ISPS) Code requires ships engaged on international voyages to have a verified Ship Security Plan and an International Ship Security Certificate.

Ships that fail to provide evidence of an International Ship Security Certificate when seeking entry into a UK port will face control measures, which could include denial of entry.

The decision to refuse a ship entry into a United Kingdom port would not be based solely on the flag carrier.

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