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Latvia

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the ease of access for a British citizen on holiday in Latvia to the Latvian judicial system if he or she should be a victim of crime. [193133]

Mr. Mullin: Legislation provides all victims of crime with the same level of judicial protection in Latvia. Generally, Latvian law prescribes that any crime should be investigated fully. Our Consular staff maintain close contact with the Latvian authorities and are informed when a British citizen becomes a victim of crime. Our staff provide a range of consular assistance to ensure the needs of the victim are met and any welfare issues addressed.

In addition, the British embassy in Latvia is able to make inquiries on behalf of British citizens if they feel they are not getting the correct information from police or other authorities. However, our experience to date is the police accept complaints immediately and act where necessary.

Overseas Students

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many overseas students who have applied to study at universities in the UK have yet to be granted a visa to enter the country. [193135]

Mr. Mullin: UKvisas maintains a record of the number of student applications and refusals for each financial year. This is not broken down into categories of application, so there is no way of determining how many prospective university students have yet to be granted a visa to enter the country.

Tom Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with the British High Commissioner in Bangladesh concerning the amount of funding a student is required to have before a visa is granted to study in the United Kingdom; and what review of this requirement is planned. [193490]

Mr. Mullin: There is no set amount of money that overseas students need to show that they have available in order to gain entry clearance to the UK. The Immigration Rules state that applicants must be able to show that they have sufficient funds to pay for their course and support themselves and any accompanying dependants without working or recourse to public funds. While there is provision for students to take employment during vacations or spare time, no account may be taken of any prospective earnings from that employment in assessing the ability of a student to meet the maintenance requirement.
 
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The British Council has provided our High Commission in Dhaka with estimations for student living costs in the UK. They estimated costs (excluding fees) for 2002–03 to be £768 per calendar month (£6,912 for the academic year, which is a nine-month period) for a course in London and £600 per calendar month (£5,400 for the academic year) for a course outside London.

Offer letters from educational establishments often contain an estimated cost for living expenses and the ECO can also use these figures as a guide.

Mr. Caton: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on changes in the number of people arriving from outside the UK on student visas between 2002 and 2003. [192399]

Mr. Mullin: During the financial year 2002–03 there was a total of 128,144 student visas issued world-wide. The equivalent figure for the financial year 2003–04 has not yet been finalised, but is estimated to be around 146,000, an increase of about 14 per cent.

Pakistan

Alan Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has made to the Pakistani authorities regarding their recent testing of a medium-range nuclear-capable missile. [192704]

Mr. MacShane: I refer my hon. Friend to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Moray (Angus Robertson) on 21 October 2004, Official Report, columns 900–01W.

Sudan

Mr. Martyn Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the levels of sexual violence in the Darfur region of Sudan. [193914]

Mr. Mullin: We remain extremely concerned about sexual violence in Darfur. Displaced people remain vulnerable to attack and the numbers of officially reported rape cases may belie the true scale of abuse.

The UK has repeatedly made clear to the Government of Sudan that they must act now to improve the security situation, to protect civilians from such atrocities and to ensure that those guilty of crimes are brought to justice. We are supporting the expanded AU mission and are providing support to the UN and other agencies, such as the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and International Committee of the Red Cross, to enhance civilian protection.

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent discussions he has had with (a) the Sudanese Liberation Army and (b) the Justice and Equality Movement in Darfur. [193006]

Mr. Mullin: Officials from the British embassy in Khartoum and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office are in regular contact with the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army and the Justice and Equality
 
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Movement, both at the peace talks in Abuja and Addis Ababa, and in Sudan. On 13 October, I met the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army leadership.

Turkey

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent representations he has received regarding negotiations for Turkish accession to the EU; and if he will make a statement. [193506]

Mr. MacShane: Turkey's EU candidacy is a frequent subject of discussion between my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary and EU partners and Turkey. Recently, he discussed this with the Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, during his visit to Ankara on 7 October, and during the visit to the UK on 19 October of the German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer. On these and other occasions, he reaffirmed the support of the UK Government for Turkey's EU candidacy. Following the European Commission recommendation that Turkey has fulfilled the Copenhagen political criteria, the UK Government believes that the December European Council should now agree to open negotiations without delay.

Iran

Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent discussions his Department has had with the Iranian Government regarding uranium enrichment. [193314]

Mr. MacShane [holding answer 26 October 2004]: Senior officials from the UK, France and Germany had discussions with their Iranian counterparts in Vienna on 21 October.

They agreed to meet again shortly for further discussions with a view to identifying an agreed way forward through diplomatic means.

PRIME MINISTER

Bush Doctrine

Mr. Allen: To ask the Prime Minister whether he has made recent representations to President Bush about the (a) legality and (b) practicality of the Bush Doctrine; and whether he has discussed with him alternative means of dealing with potential threats from rogue states. [193933]

The Prime Minister: I am in regular discussions with President Bush on a wide range of issues, including our shared imperative of tackling terrorism and other security matters.

Iraq

Glenda Jackson: To ask the Prime Minister (1) when and from whom in the Iraqi Interim Government he first received a request for British troops to be moved from their present duties in Southern Iraq to unspecified positions south of Baghdad; [192942]

(2) when and with whom in the US Administration he last discussed the terms of engagement for the deployment of British troops south of Baghdad; [192965]
 
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(3) when and with whom in the Iraqi Interim Government he last discussed the terms of engagement for the deployment of British troops south of Baghdad. [192966]

The Prime Minister: As I made clear during Prime Minister's questions on Wednesday 20 October, this request was a military request made by the American military to the British military. This deployment is a part of the process of creating the right conditions for the Iraqi elections to take place in January. We share with the Iraqi Interim Government and with our coalition partners a common goal of creating a secure and stable Iraq.

Glenda Jackson: To ask the Prime Minister (1) when and with whom in the US Administration he last discussed the proposed military assault on Fallujah; [192954]

(2) when and with whom in the Iraqi Interim Government he last discussed the proposed military assault on Fallujah. [192955]

The Prime Minister: The Government and UK Military Commanders are engaged in constant dialogue with the US and Iraqi Government on a range of operations in Iraq. Disclosing details would endanger those operations.

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