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Surplus Assets Sales

Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the value of sales of surplus assets from his Department was in each year since 2000–01. [220972]

Jane Kennedy: The DWP was formed in June 2001 from the Department of Social Security (DSS) and parts of the former Department for Education and Employment, including the Employment Service (ES). The sales for the earlier period to June 2001 given below refer to the above predecessor organisations.

Departments are required to disclose the proceeds from the sale of fixed assets consistent with the requirements of the Resource Accounting Manual (RAM) and Government Accounting.

This information is included in the Departmental Resource Accounts, copies of which are available in the Library.

The information on value of sales of fixed assets for each year is in the following table.

	£000
2000–01	1,180
2001–02	1,775
2002–03	3,596
2003–04(29)	143,375

⁽²⁹⁾ The sale of the ex-Employment Service estate was undertaken in December 2003 as an extension to the existing PRIME PFI partnership contract with Land Securities Trillium. Under the terms of the contract, the Department received total consideration of £140 million, of which £100 million was in cash.



 
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FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Accidents

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many accidents occurred at his departmental premises in each of the last five years involving (a) members of his Department's staff and (b) members of the public. [222569]

Mr. Alexander: In 2004 there were 47 accidents reported at Foreign and Commonwealth Office premises in the UK, and 28 at Foreign and Commonwealth Office posts overseas, one of which involved a member of the public. In 2003 there were 43 accidents at Foreign and Commonwealth Office premises in the UK. Figures for previous years are not currently available.

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he publishes data for the number of accidents at work involving employees of his Department; and if he will make a statement. [222586]

Mr. Alexander: In 2004, there were 75 accidents reported world-wide involving employees of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The comparable figure for 2003 was 55.

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what arrangements for monitoring accidents at work involving members of staff of his Department are in place; and if he will make a statement. [222635]

Mr. Alexander: The Foreign and Commonwealth office has an accident reporting system whereby all accidents are reported to the health and safety section of Human Resources Directorate—Health and Welfare Policy Team. The health and safety advisers monitor the accident reports for trends and produce statistics for discussion at health and safety meetings.
 
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The reporting system is compliant with the Data Protection Act 1998.

Central African Republic

Mr. Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the recent parliamentary and presidential elections held in the Central African Republic; and if he will make a statement. [223026]

Mr. Mullin: The British Government welcome the holding of elections in the Central African Republic. These mark the end of a two year period of transitional government. We are aware of some reports of irregularities in the election process, but we await the final results which are expected by 28 March.

G8 Summit

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the Government's policy towards discussion of conventional arms sales at the G8 summit in June; and what resolutions will be proposed regarding Iraq. [222956]

Mr. MacShane: There are no plans to discuss conventional arms sales at the G8 Summit, and it is too early to say what discussions there might be on Iraq at the Summit.

Human Rights Norms for Business

Ms Shipley: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what role the Government envisages for the UN Human Rights Norms for Business in clarifying the responsibilities of multinational corporations with regard to human rights. [222838]

Mr. Alexander: While there is merit in clarifying minimum standards for business in relation to human rights, we believe that future action on this agenda should take into account the many codes and initiatives which exist in this field, rather than focussing exclusively on the draft norms. These include the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Guidelines on Multinational Enterprises, the International Labour Organisation Tripartite Declaration of Principles concerning Multinational Enterprises and Social Policy and the UN Global Compact. This approach is in line with the recent report of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on this issue.

Through the Business Leaders Initiative on Human Rights, a number of multinational companies have been road-testing" the draft norms, using the content to inform their codes of practice. This process will continue until December 2006. In addition, the FTSE4Good benchmark takes the draft norms into account in its assessment of companies' performance. And some potential investors consider the draft norms in their requirement for human rights impact assessments".

Ms Shipley: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if the Government will support the UN Human Rights Norms for Business at the UN Commission on Human Rights meeting in April. [222839]

 
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Mr. Alexander: I refer my hon. Friend to the reply I gave to her today (UIN 222838). The UK will continue to play a constructive role in advancing the debate on corporate responsibility and human rights in the Commission. We will be active at the forthcoming Special Session of the Commission in seeking to ensure proper follow-up to the report of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights which addresses, inter alia, the question of the status of the draft norms.

Iran

Ms Munn: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent negotiations have taken place between the EU3 and Iran on the future of Iran's nuclear programme; and if he will make a statement. [222882]

Mr. MacShane: Discussions between officials from Iran, Britain, France and Germany—together with officials from the office of the European Union's High Representative—continue on a regular basis. The objective of the discussions is to take forward the full implementation of the November 2004 Paris Agreement.

The most recent round of discussions took place in Geneva during the week beginning 7 March.

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the Government's policy is regarding the Iranian authorities' use of enriched uranium; and whether the UK is participating in the US initiatives to encourage Iran not to undertake this process. [222955]

Mr. MacShane: The Government continue to have serious concerns about Iran's nuclear programme, including its plans to develop an indigenous uranium enrichment capability. Together with colleagues from France and Germany (the E3") and the European High Representative, my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary has been engaged since late 2002 in efforts to encourage the Iranian authorities to address international concern about their proposed nuclear cycle.

We welcome the announcement by the United States on 11 March 2005 that it has decided to support the E3's diplomacy by dropping its objection to Iran's application to the World Trade Organisation and consider, on a case by case basis, the licensing of spare-parts for Iranian civilian aircraft, in particular from the EU to Iran.

Iraq

Mr. Dalyell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how much money from public funds was allocated to the campaign of Mr. Allawi in the Iraq elections. [218389]

Mr. Mullin [holding answer 1 March 2005]: No UK public funds were allocated to Dr. Allawi's election campaign.

Mr. Donaldson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what his latest estimate is of the number of Iraqi civilians killed in the
 
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conflict since coalition forces entered Iraq; and what estimate he has made of the number of Iraqi civilians killed by the regime of Saddam Hussein. [223479]

Mr. Mullin [holding answer 22 March 2005]: There are no wholly reliable and comprehensive figures for Iraqi civilians killed since military operations began in March 2003. The Iraqi Minister of Health's most recently released figures, based on records from some 180 hospitals, show that between 5 April 2004, when figures began to be collated, and 1 March 2005, 6,265 Iraqis were killed. The Ministry of Health points out that this figure includes all Iraqis, including civilians, Iraqi Security Forces and insurgents, killed as a result of violence.

On 22 July 2003 the United Nations Secretary-General reported to the Security Council that it was estimated that over the past three decades at least 290,000 Iraqis had disappeared in Iraq. The Iraqi Bureau of Missing Persons has registered over 1.3 million missing Iraqis. Some 270 mass graves have so far been reported from that period.

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