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Egypt

Mr. Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment has been made of the Egyptian President's request to Parliament to amend article 76 of the Egyptian constitution to allow multiple candidates in September's Presidential polls; and if he will make a statement. [221606]

Mr. Rammell: The UK has always supported Egyptian efforts on reform. We welcome President Mubarak's proposal on 28 February for a change to the Egyptian constitution, with the stated aim of enabling direct election of the President from among multiple
 
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candidates. This is the first step towards Egypt taking its place among the leading reforming countries in the region.

EU Presidency

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what programme points, other than the summit with European Union foreign ministers in Newport in September, have been confirmed for the UK's EU presidency agenda. [221601]

Mr. MacShane: I refer my hon. Friend to the copy of the provisional programme for the UK's presidency of the European Union, which has been placed in the Library of the House.

European Constitution

Mr. Davidson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether the Government plan to issue further guidance on the treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe which provides analysis and comparison of the existing treaties and the new treaty, as referred to by the Prime Minister on 4 May 2004, Official Report, column 1456W. [221570]

Mr. MacShane: A Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) commentary analysing the treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe compared with the existing EU treaties was laid before the House on 26 January and published as Command Paper 6459 on 7 February. It can be accessed free of charge at www.europe.gov.uk. Hard copies are available in central libraries and to members of the public on request from the FCO.

Gibraltar

Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how much money was allocated to Gibraltar from the UK Exchequer in 2004–05. [221481]

Mr. MacShane: The costs of the Convent (the Governor's Office) in the financial year 2004–05 are £1.268 million (£1.187 million running costs and £81,000 capital expenditure). Core Ministry of Defence costs are £78.491 million (£64.698 million operating costs and £13.793 million capital expenditure). The Foreign and Commonwealth Office is also responsible for the Gibraltar Project Fund which has an allocation of £400,000 in financial year 2004–05.

Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what his Department's policy is on expanding trade relations with Gibraltar. [221490]

Mr. MacShane: The Government are committed to helping Gibraltar maintain its prosperity through open access to markets in goods and services.

Israel

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the answer of 7 March 2005, Official Report, column 1578W, on Israel, whether he has made representations
 
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to the Israeli authorities about the Citizenship and Entrance to Israel law since it was extended on 31 January. [221689]

Mr. Rammell: Our Ambassador in Tel Aviv raised the matter with Israeli Interior Minister Paz-Pines on 7 March. Mr. Paz-Pines said the Israeli government would conduct a further review of the temporary order on 31 May. He expected to see modifications to the law which would allow Palestinians above a certain age to be reunited with their families in Israel. The law would expire at the end of 2005, by which time an entirely new immigration law would need to be introduced.

Kyrgyzstan

Mr. Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment has been made of the legitimacy of the first round of parliamentary elections in Kyrgyzstan; and if he will make a statement. [221605]

Mr. Rammell: As I said in a press statement on 4 March 2005, I am encouraged to see that the parliamentary elections in Kyrgyzstan on 27 February were more competitive than previous elections, and that voting and the count on the day were a considerable improvement. But a number of significant shortcomings, particularly before election day, meant the elections still did not fully match up to international standards. A copy of the statement is available on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office website: www.fco.gov.uk/news/press-releases.

The UK, like its EU partners, believes that freedom of expression is fundamental to the democratic process. The pressure exerted on the independent media and the late deregistration of some candidates, for example, restricted this freedom for the voters of Kyrgyzstan.

Looking to the second round of parliamentary elections on 13 March 2005 and the presidential elections later this year, I urged the Kyrgyz authorities in my statement of 4 March to take these issues into account and seize the opportunity to set a strong example for the rest of Central Asia.

Moldova

Mr. Trend: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the presidential elections in Moldova; and whether he has assessed this as a free and fair campaign and vote. [221515]

Mr. MacShane: I refer the hon. Member to the declaration on the parliamentary elections in Moldova issued by the EU on 8 March. We are encouraged that the elections were judged by the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) to have generally met international standards for democratic elections. But we urge the Government of Moldova to address without delay the shortcomings identified by the OSCE, in particular problems concerning campaign conditions and the restricted media environment.

The full text of the EU declaration is available on the presidency's website at www.eu2005.lu.
 
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Nuclear Disarmament

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with the governments of (a) Iran and (b) North Korea on nuclear disarmament; and if he will make a statement. [221433]

Mr. MacShane: My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary is in regular contact with his Iranian counterpart. Discussion of Iran's nuclear programme forms a key part of these exchanges. He also has frequent discussions with his French, German and US colleagues concerning Iran's nuclear programme. The issue is regularly on the agenda for discussion with a wide range of Ministers from other states.

Discussion of Iran's nuclear programme at senior official level continue on a regular basis.

There has been no direct ministerial contact with the Government of North Korea since the visit of my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Mr. Rammell) in December 2004. The Government are, however, following closely developments in North Korea, and is in regular contact with other interested Governments. We urge the Government of North Korea to resume its engagement in the six-party talks process, which aims to resolve international concerns about the status of North Korea's nuclear programmes.

Peter Dun

Mr. Mark Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the case of Mr. Peter Dun. [221277]

Mr. MacShane: We are not able to comment because we owe a duty of confidentiality to serving and former members of staff.

Student Visas

Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many rejected overseas student visa applications were (a) overturned and (b) upheld on appeal in the last year for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement. [222378]

Mr. Alexander: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office does not have figures detailing the number of successful appeals that were made against decisions to refuse entry clearance.

UK Embassies

Mr. Salmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what estimate he has made of the cost of employing a commercial officer in each UK embassy in (a) the EU and (b) North America. [222028]

Mr. MacShane [holding answer 15 March 2005]: The decision on which grades to employ at a post on commercial work and therefore the cost to be incurred is determined by the resources needed to meet UK Trade and Investment's (UKTI) trade development and inward investment objective. A commercial officer is not an Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) grade but a job description that can be applied to any of the UK
 
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based civil servants or locally engaged staff making up some 1,600 full-time staff equivalents across a wide range of grades and salary bands working on UKTI's objective at FCO posts overseas.

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