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EU Constitution (Referendum Campaign)

Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what requirements there are for the declaration of receipt of EU funds by academics during the course of a referendum campaign on the EU Constitution; and if he will make a statement. [204179]

Mr. MacShane: When EU funds are made available to academies it is a requirement for the receipt to be made public in the academy's annual accounts. The Political Parties Elections and Referendums Act 2000 does not place any additional requirements on academies to declare funding, whether this has been received during a referendum campaign or at any other time.

EU Funding

Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how much EU funding was allocated to the Council of the Bar and Law Societies of the European Union in the last year for which figures are available. [204095]

Mr. Leslie: I have been asked to reply. The Council of the Bar and Law Societies of the European Union (CCBE) receives no EU funding towards its running costs.
 
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However the CCBE have informed us that they sometimes participate in EU-funded projects aimed at promoting legal training and co-operation within Europe, usually in co-operation with other organisations. We do not hold information of the funding received by the CCBE in that context.

EU-China Arms Embargo

Mr. Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment has been made of the likely implications of ending the EU-China Arms embargo on (a) the UK defence industry and (b) trade with the United States. [204803]

Mr. MacShane: If the EU Arms Embargo on China were lifted export licence applications would continue to be assessed against the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria, used for all applications. In particular an export licence would not be issued if there was a clear risk that the proposed export might be used for internal repression or external aggression.

The Government supported the decision of the European Council in December 2003 to review the EU Arms Embargo on China. The Government are taking all relevant factors into account in the ongoing review—it does not wish to exclude any options for, nor to pre-empt the conclusion of the review.

Mr. Ancram: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the answer of 7 December 2004, Official Report, column 476W, whether the Government would be bound by a decision of the European Council to suspend the arms embargo against China; whether the United Kingdom can unilaterally impose an arms embargo on China; and if he will make a statement. [205325]

Mr. Straw: Any decision to lift the EU Arms Embargo on China would have to be taken by unanimous agreement of all EU member states, including the UK. EU control of defence equipment exports to China would continue to be governed by the EU Code of Conduct on Arms Exports. It is possible, irrespective of the existence of an EU arms embargo on a country, for a member state to impose a national embargo on that country (as is the case with the UK's embargo on Iran) although arms embargoes are very much more effective when applied multilaterally.

European Constitution

Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list changes to the English text of the European Constitution that have occurred since the Intergovernmental Conference, broken down by article. [204215]

Mr. MacShane: Following the June Intergovernmental Conference (IGC), the draft EU Constitutional Treaty (Command Paper 6289) was consolidated into a single document and drawn up in all the authentic EU languages. These different versions were scrutinised by specialist lawyer linguists, as occurs for every EU Treaty, to ensure there were no discrepancies between the different language versions without making any substantive changes to the text
 
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adopted at the IGC. The final text was published as Command Paper 6429. Listing such discrepancies by article would incur disproportionate cost.

Indonesia

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will seek a legal opinion as to whether the UN General Assembly resolution 2504, passed on 19 November 1969, precludes the UN Secretary-General from instigating a Review of the United Nations' own conduct in relation to the 1968–69 Act of Free Choice in West Papua; and if he will make a statement. [204271]

Mr. MacShane: The resolution does not preclude the Secretary-General from instigating a review. I refer the hon. Member to the reply my hon. Friend the Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Douglas Alexander) gave to him setting out the Government's approach to an investigation of the Act of Free Will on 17 November 2004, Official Report, column 1550W.

We welcome Indonesian President Yudhoyono's undertaking in his inauguration speech on 20 October to protect the fundamental rights of the people of Papua and to implement the special autonomy law agreed in 2001.

Ministerial Visits

Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what ministerial visits are planned for each Minister in his Department in the next six months; and if he will make a statement. [201276]

Mr. Straw: It is not my practice to announce visits until they are firm. Because of the unpredictable nature of world events and for good reasons of security, final decisions on my, and Ministers', overseas visits are often not possible until very shortly before the day of travel.

Parliamentary Questions

Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what target his Department sets for the maximum acceptable time to respond in full to a parliamentary question; and what percentage of answers given by his Department failed to meet this target in each parliamentary session from 1997–98 to 2003–04. [202564]

Mr. Straw: My Department endeavours to give a substantive answer to all Named day Parliamentary Questions (PQs) on the day specified and to all ordinary written PQs within five working days upon their publication in the 'Questions Book'.

In Parliamentary Session 2001–02, my Department answered 82 per cent. of Named day PQs on time and 82 per cent. of ordinary written PQs within five working days.

In 2002–03, my Department answered 74 per cent. of Named day PQs on time and 76 per cent. of ordinary written PQs within five working days.
 
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In 2003–04, my Department answered 70 per cent. of Named day PQs on time and 86 per cent. of ordinary written PQs within five working days.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office only started recording the time taken to answer ordinary written questions in October 2001.

Resignations (Misconduct)

Andrew Mackinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairshow many locally engaged staff have been dismissed or resigned as a consequence of misconduct in each of the past three years; and if he will make a statement. [205523]

Mr. MacShane : The rights of local staff are protected by the employment law of the country in which they are appointed. Missions are not required to report to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on the number and circumstances of local staff dismissals and resignations. To obtain this information from every post in the world would incur disproportionate cost.

Andrew Mackinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many Foreign Service staff have been dismissed or resigned as a consequence of misconduct in each of the past three years; and if he will make a statement. [205527]

Mr. Alexander [holding answer 16 December 2004]: One Foreign and Commonwealth Office officer was dismissed for misconduct in 2002, five in 2003 and three in 2004 (to date).

In 2002 and 2004 no officers resigned with outstanding misconduct allegations made against them. In 2003 one officer resigned after allegations of misconduct were made but before it was decided if the allegations should be upheld.

Spratly Islands

Mr. Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions have taken place between Her Majesty's Government and (a) China, (b) Taiwan, (c) Vietnam, (d) Malaysia and (e) the Philippines regarding territorial claims on the Spratly Islands. [204473]

Mr. MacShane: The status of the Spratly Islands is an issue for the parties disputing sovereignty to resolve. The Government welcomes regional confidence building measures and commitments to find a peaceful resolution to the dispute.

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