---

29 Jun 2004 : Column 234W—continued

Pension Credit

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what proportion of (a) pensioners in Scotland and (b) eligible pensioners in Scotland have taken up (i) the guarantee credit and (ii) the savings credit elements of pension credit; [181281]

(2) how many pensioners in Scotland have taken up their entitlement to (a) the guarantee credit and (b) the savings credit elements of pension credit. [181283]

Malcolm Wicks: Reliable estimates of the number or proportion of pensioners eligible for the guarantee credit or savings credit elements of pension credit are not available for Government Office regions.
 
29 Jun 2004 : Column 235W
 
Information on the numbers of people in Scotland receiving guarantee credit and savings credit at 31 May 2004 is given in the table.
Pension credit recipients in Scotland: 31 May 2004

	All	Guarantee credit only	Guarantee credit and savings credit	Savings credit only
Households	259,370	71,410	139,375	48,590
Individuals	309,935	86,640	158,370	64,930
Individuals as a percentage of population aged 60 and over	28.8	8.1	14.7	6.0

Notes:
1. Figures other than percentages are rounded to the nearest 5.
2. Individual recipients include a small number of partners under age 60.
3. Percentages have been calculated using the ONS mid 2002 population estimates for persons aged 60 and over living in Scotland.

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will estimate the level of expenditure on pension credit in financial years (a) 2004–05, (b) 2005–06 and (c) 2006–07 in (i) the UK and (ii) Scotland. [181282]

Malcolm Wicks: The available information is in the table.

			£ million
Pension Credit(15)	2004–05	2005–06	2006–07
Great Britain(16)	5,973	6,337	6,795
Scotland(17)	596	632	695

⁽¹⁵⁾ Figures have been rounded to the nearest million.
⁽¹⁶⁾ Figures are for Great Britain, and are consistent with Budget 2004 forecasts to 2005–06. Figures for 2006–07 are projections consistent with the long term projections published at Budget 2004, and assume the continuation of current policy. Information for Northern Ireland is a matter for the Northern Ireland Office.
⁽¹⁷⁾ Figures for Scotland are derived from information used to inform the Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses, 2004, and are not explicitly forecast. The figures assume that the future proportion of expenditure attributable to Scotland is the same as for minimum income guarantee in 2002–03, although it is likely that the changes associated with pension credit do not have a uniform impact across Great Britain.

Pension Service

Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions why Mr. G. Waghorn of Ashburton has not received retirement pension since 25 March; and for what reason no reply has been sent to his letters to the Pension Service. [180635]

Mr. Pond: Following the hon. Gentleman's letter to the Pension Service dated 1 June the matter has been resolved. The Pension Service wrote to the hon. Member on 24 June with a full explanation of the circumstances in this case.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

British Council (Russia)

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the Government's response to the raids of
 
29 Jun 2004 : Column 236W
 
21 May on the offices of the British Council in Russia; what requests the Government has received from the Russian authorities in relation to the (a) current and (b) future operations of the British Council in Russia; and what documentation the Government (i) has submitted and (ii) will be submitting to the Russian authorities. [180077]

Mr. Rammell: The Government views with concern the recent actions taken by the Russian Ministry of the Interior in respect of the British Council's operations in Russia. We have made these concerns clear to the Russian authorities at all levels.

The Russian Ministry of the Interior has requested the provision of accounting documentation in relation to the teaching and examination activities of the British Council. In response, we submitted a Diplomatic Note, including a financial annex, which provided information about the British Council and its work in Russia to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 17 June.

We have proposed that this issue be resolved through early signature of a Cultural Centres Agreement between the United Kingdom and the Russian Federation. A draft agreement was in fact reached in 2001, since when we have been waiting for a decision from the Russian Government to proceed with signature. Once this Agreement comes into effect, we believe all questions about the British Council's status and operations in Russia can be rapidly resolved.

Cyprus

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the offer to return land from the Sovereign Base Area in Cyprus to the Cyprus Government; which area was involved; what size the area is; and whether the Ministry of Defence was involved in the discussions. [180953]

Mr. MacShane: All aspects of the Government's decision to invite the UN Secretary-General to include part of the Sovereign Base Areas (SBAs) in his proposals for territorial adjustment, as part of his overall settlement plan, were communicated to the House by my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary in his statements on 25 February 2003, Official Report, columns 13–14WS and 1 April 2004 Official Report, columns 107–10WS. The offer comprised approximately half of the SBAs and was mainly arable land. This was set out in the published final version of the Annan Plan. As the Foreign Secretary made clear to the House in his written statement on 26 April 2004, Official Report, columns 44–46WS, the UK's territorial offer was an integral part of the Annan Plan itself. Both were rendered null and void by the outcome of the referenda in Cyprus. But the Government would look favourably at renewing the offer in the event that the Annan Plan were picked up again as the basis for a future settlement.

EU Constitution

Mr. Salmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the effect of the inclusion of Article III-157(3) in the final text of the EU Constitution. [181121]

 
29 Jun 2004 : Column 237W
 

Mr. MacShane: Article III-157 (3) of the draft Constitutional Treaty requires that any proposal in the field of energy that is primarily fiscal in nature must be agreed by unanimity in the Council. This is consistent with the Government's commitment to ensure that unanimity is retained for tax matters decided at the EU level, as set out in the White Paper on the intergovernmental conference (Cm5934).

EU Presidency

Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if the Government will publish the presidency proposals to the European intergovernmental conference documents (a) CIG 79/04 and (b) 80/04. [180737]

Mr. MacShane: We have placed these documents in the Library of the House, and they are also available on the presidency's website: www.eu2004.ie They are, however, entirely superseded by the subsequent presidency document CIG 86/04 which is likewise in the Library of the House and on the presidency website.

Indonesia

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment his Department has made of the impact of the arrests of Malik Mahmud and Zaini Abdullah on the activities of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in Indonesia; and if he will make a statement. [180508]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: On 15 June Swedish police arrested Malik Mahmud and Zaini Abdullah under suspicion of crimes violating international law, but released them on 18 June after the judge determined that there was not enough evidence to lay charges. We do not know if the arrests have had an impact on the activities of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM). With our EU partners we continue to urge both the Indonesian Government and the GAM to return to the negotiating table as soon as possible, as only negotiation will offer a long-term solution to the conflict in Aceh.

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what estimate his Department has made of the number of civilians killed in Aceh since May 2003; and if he will make a statement. [180545]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: There are no official figures for the numbers of civilians killed in Aceh. Some NGOs/observers estimate the number of civilians killed to be around 1,000. The Indonesian Government's official casualty figures during the operations in Aceh since May 2003 are 2000 Free Aceh Movement casualties and 55 security forces casualties. However, all these figures are difficult to verify.

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment his Department has made of Human Rights Watch's claims of extra-judicial killings, kidnapping and torture by the Indonesian Armed Forces in Aceh; and if he will make a statement. [180546]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: We are aware of the Human Rights Watch report (issued in December 2003), which was the result of an investigation into reports of human rights abuses from Acehnese refugees in Malaysia. We
 
29 Jun 2004 : Column 238W
 
take these reports seriously. We have raised Aceh with the Indonesian Government on a number of occasions, most recently on 9 June when the British Ambassador to Indonesia raised it with the Indonesian Minister for Politics and Security.

There continues to be reports of human rights abuses perpetrated by the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and the Indonesian armed forces in Aceh. The Indonesian military continues to court-martial soldiers arrested on suspicion of human rights abuses. The Indonesian military are now training soldiers in human rights prior to deployment and have established a joint military and civilian police unit to investigate all shootings involving the Indonesian military.

The security situation in towns and cities in Aceh is much improved since the Human Rights Watch report was issued. Martial law has been lifted and Aceh has been returned to civilian control. We continue to monitor the human rights situation in Aceh closely.

---