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Prisons

Tom Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence which independent observer groups are given permission to visit British-run military and civilian prisons in Iraq; to whom their reports have been made on prison conditions; to what level within his Department such reports are sent; and if he will make a statement. [177247]

Mr. Ingram: The International Committee of the Red Cross regularly visit the British-run Divisional Temporary Detention Facility in Iraq. Discussions routinely take place between local ICRC representatives and British military staff to resolve any issues relating to the conditions in which internees are held. The ICRC produce confidential working papers which are passed to the UK General Officer Commanding in Iraq, and are staffed through the chain of command to the permanent joint headquarters and to the MOD head office if appropriate. Ministers are routinely kept abreast of the results of the ICRCs continuing scrutiny of British-run detention facilities in Iraq, and any substantive issues raised by the ICRC are promptly brought to their attention.

Medals

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the findings were of the review referred to in his Department's press statement of 17 May relating to the award of an Arctic medal. [175437]

Mr. Caplin: No press statement was issued on 17 May. I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Nottingham, North (Mr. Allen) on 1 March 2004, Official Report, columns 595–96.

Sensory Deprivation

Adam Price: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what directives are in force in the armed forces on the use of sensory deprivation techniques. [158884]

Mr. Ingram [holding answer 4 March 2004]: Members of the armed forces may temporarily obscure the vision of apprehended individuals, for reasons of operational security, for example, while they are being transported through militarily sensitive areas. Vision may not be obscured during interrogation. The directive issued by the Chief of Joint Operations to the Commander of British Forces in Iraq covers methods that may be used when obscuring vision, and circumstances in which these methods may be applied.

No other forms of sensory deprivation are permitted. Joint Warfare Publication 1–10 (Prisoner of War Handling) states that no forms of physical or mental pressure may be used for the purpose of inducing answers to questions, which would preclude the use of 'white noise' or any other sensory deprivation techniques.

Special Investigation Branch

Adam Price: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the freedom of information rules are governing access to completed reports of the Special Investigation Branch in which no further action is recommended. [158885]

 
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Mr. Ingram [holding answer 4 March 2004]: From 1 January 2005 any request for information held by the Ministry of Defence will be considered in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act. A number of exemptions might apply to information contained in Royal Military Police Special Investigation Branch reports, and requests will therefore need to be given case-by-case consideration.

Adam Price: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the average length of Special Investigations Branch investigations was in the last five years; and in what proportion of cases action was taken. [158862]

Mr. Ingram: The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Children Victims of War

Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what requests he has received from the organisation, Children Victims of War for a meeting to discuss the current situation in (a) Iraq and (b) Afghanistan. [178726]

Hilary Benn: I have not received any requests from the organisation Children Victims of War to discuss either Iraq or Afghanistan.

UNESCO

Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what meetings the British ambassador to UNESCO has attended since 1 January in his official capacity. [178123]

Hilary Benn: Our ambassador to UNESCO has attended a large number of meetings so far this year in his official capacity. These include the UNESCO Executive Board biannual session and related preparatory meetings with other board members, the European Union Group, the Commonwealth Group and the Geneva Group; UNESCO-hosted meetings on a wide range of issues falling within the organisation's Education, Science, Culture and Communications portfolio; meetings with DFID and other government Departments on policy towards UNESCO; and, a series of meetings in the UK and Paris on the re-establishment of the UK National Commission for UNESCO.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Overseas Investment

Vera Baird: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if the Government will introduce legislation that will enable the Government to ban investment in countries where investment will have a negative impact and is contrary to British Government advice. [179229]

Mr. MacShane: Investment usually has a positive, not a negative, impact. It is essential for sustainable economic development. In some exceptional circumstances, the Government have considered it
 
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appropriate not to encourage investment on the grounds that investment is not appropriate so long as the regime in question continues to suppress the basic rights of its people. In certain cases, British companies have disinvested at the request of the British Government. The Government have no plans however to introduce legislation in these cases. Any such legislation would in any event have to be compatible with the prohibitions on restrictions on the free movement of capital in the EC Treaty.

Guantanamo Bay

Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether the medical records of United Kingdom citizens who were detained in Guantanamo Bay were made available to the interrogators; and whether Her Majesty's Government has received representations from those former British detainees held at Guantanamo Bay in respect of their treatment while under detention. [179023]

Mr. Mullin: The Government are not aware of any requests from the US authorities for the UK medical records of the British nationals detained at Guantanamo Bay, The question of whether medical teams at Guantanamo Bay have made their medical records of the detainees available to the interrogators is a matter for the US authorities.

We have made it very clear to the US authorities that the British detainees at Guantanamo Bay are entitled to be treated humanely. British officials have visited Guantanamo Bay on seven occasions to check on the welfare of the British detainees, most recently in March. None of the former British detainees held at Guantanamo Bay have made representations to the British Government about their treatment there since their return to the UK.

Rwanda

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when the United Kingdom Government first received reports of acts of genocide being carried out in Rwanda; what action the Government took in immediate response; and when. [177663]

Mr. Mullin: Rwandan President Habyarimana, and his Burundian counterpart President Cyprien Ntaryamira, were killed on 6 April 1994 when their aircraft was shot down over Kigali. Very soon afterwards, the British Government became aware of media and NGO reports of large-scale violence and mass killings in Rwanda. The then Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Mark Lennox-Boyd) set out the Government's position and reaction to these events in a debate on Rwanda on 24 May 1994, Official Report, columns 312–15.

Working Holidaymaker Scheme

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many people applied in 2003 for a visa under the Commonwealth working holidaymaker scheme; and from which countries they came. [178778]

 
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Mr. Mullin: There are 53 Commonwealth Member countries, including the United Kingdom. Zimbabwe is no longer a Commonwealth Member. However, for immigration purposes Zimbabwean nationals continue to be treated as Commonwealth nationals. Zimbabwean nationals remain, therefore, eligible to apply working holidaymaker visas. No applications from Kiribati, Nauru, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu or Vanuatu nationals were received in 2003. The following table shows the number of applications made for working holidaymaker visas during 2003, broken down by nationality.

	Number of applications
Antigua and Barbuda	2
Australia	32,614
Bahamas	2
Bangladesh	217
Barbados	45
Belize	6
Botswana	192
BNO's and BOC's(16)	87
Brunei	3
Cameroon	72
Canada	6,612
Cyprus	25
Dominica	15
Fiji	30
Gambia	8
Ghana	4,684
Grenada	7
Guyana	81
India	10,860
Jamaica	894
Kenya	173
Lesotho	15
Malawi	125
Malaysia	3,469
Maldives	4
Malta	96
Mauritius	125
Mozambique	10
Namibia	1,824
New Zealand	8,796
Nigeria	331
Pakistan	128
Papua New Guinea	3
Seychelles	19
Sierra Leone	16
Singapore	247
South Africa	34,242
Sri Lanka	5,184
St. Kitts and Nevis	4
St. Lucia	33
St. Vincent	24
Swaziland	228
Tanzania	28
Tonga	1
Trinidad and Tobago	749
Uganda	68
Zambia	111
Zimbabwe	996

⁽¹⁶⁾ British National Overseas (BNO) and British Overseas Citizen (BOC).
Source:
These statistics are obtained from UKvisas Central Reference System.

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many applications under the working holidaymaker scheme from (a) India, (b) Pakistan, (c) Sri Lanka, (d) Nigeria, (e) Ghana, (f) Sierra Leone, (g) Jamaica and (h) all new Commonwealth countries have been (i) received, (ii) refused, (iii) granted and (iv) appealed against since 25 August 2003. [178782]

 
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Mr. Mullin: There are 53 Commonwealth member countries, including the United Kingdom. The following table provides the figures requested between 25 August 2003 and 28 May 2004. These statistics are obtained from UKvisas central reference system. The figures in the table may not add up due to some applications received in 2003 overlapping into 2004 and equally the same applies for some received in 2002 but processed in 2003. Some applications are also withdrawn by the applicant before a decision is made.

	Received	Refused	Issued	Appealed
India	9,995	5,276	1,728	1,445
Pakistan	96	29	56	4
Sri Lanka	4,935	3,873	1,075	638
Nigeria	220	97	114	42
Ghana	3,143	987	1,977	161
Sierra Leone	13	11	3	2
Jamaica	442	145	269	30
All CC(17)	73,468	13,287	53,476	2,763

⁽¹⁷⁾ All Commonwealth countries, including those broken down within the table.

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