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Remote Electronic Voting

Mr. Heald: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what costs the Government have incurred in connection with remote electronic voting in each year since its introduction; and if she will make a statement on forecast expenditure on promoting e-voting. [3615]

Ms Harman: The Government launched their electoral modernisation programme in 2002. This commenced a three-year programme of electoral pilots to test new methods of voting and other electoral innovations at local elections. The costs that the Government have incurred in connection with remote electronic voting pilots was £2,261,204 in 2002 and £16,976,000 in 2003.

Future expenditure will depend on the electoral modernisation strategy, which is still in development.

Mr. Heald: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what Implementing Electronic Government targets the Government have set local authorities to promote the implementation and take-up of remote electronic voting. [3616]

Ms Harman: The Government have not set any Implementing Electronic Government targets for local authorities to promote the implementation or take-up of remote electronic voting.

Televised Court Hearings

Mr. Heald: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs whether the Department plans to televise court hearings. [2821]

Ms Harman: We are considering whether any televising should be permitted. My Department recently carried out a public consultation on broadcasting court proceedings. The consultation paper and the entries in
 
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our on-line discussion forum are available on the Department's website. Any change to the current prohibition would require primary legislation.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Acquis Communautaire

Mr. Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the Government's estimate is of the size of the acquis communautaire; and if he will make a statement. [4567]

Mr. Douglas Alexander [holding answer 14 June 2005]: The acquis communautaire consists of the principles, practices, policies, obligations, objectives and legal and other acts that have been agreed or have been developed over the years by the European Union and the European Communities. These include, in particular, the EU Treaties in their entirety, as well as all existing EU legislation and Court of Justice judgments.

The acquis ranges over virtually all policy areas and its content develops over time. To try to estimate its size" would be as meaningless as to try to estimate the size" of UK law.

Afghanistan

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how much has been spent by the UK on supporting measures to eradicate heroin poppy cultivation in Afghanistan; and what change there has been in the (a) cultivation of poppies and (b) production of heroin over the period of that support. [3761]

Dr. Howells: Since 2001 the UK's overall spend on counter narcotics work in Afghanistan has been as follows:

	Overall spend (£)
2001–02	31,000
2002–03	1,599,036
2003–04	16,500,931

Final outturn figures for financial year 2004–05 have not yet been confirmed.

However, we estimate total spend to be around £20 million.

The UK continues to provide substantial financial and practical support to the Afghan Government in the implementation of their comprehensive national drug control strategy. This year, the UK will spend more than £50 million, including £30 million on alternative livelihoods.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) conducts an annual survey into the level of opium poppy cultivation and production in Afghanistan. Full details can be found on their website at:

http://www.unodc.org/pdf/afg/afghanistan_opium_32survey 2004.pdf
 
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During the period detailed, the reported levels of cultivation and production was as follows:

	Hectares	Tonnes
2001	8,000	185
2002	74,000	3,400
2003	80,000	3,600
2004	131,000	4,200

There are no reliable figures to show how much of this opium was processed into heroin within Afghanistan.

The UK, as lead nation on counter narcotics (CN), remains committed to supporting the Afghan Government in the implementation of their comprehensive 2005 CN implementation plan and in updating their national drug control strategy. I refer my hon. Friend to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Bognor Regis and Littlehampton (Mr. Gibb) on 6 June 2005, Official Report, columns 234–35W, on the counter narcotics programme in Afghanistan .

China

Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the effects of the UK position on lifting the EU embargo on arms sales to China on (a) the UK balance of trade with the USA and (b) the UK arms industry. [1479]

Dr. Howells: The Government are concerned about the possibility of legislation being introduced by the US Congress and the effect that this may have on UK companies' future export sales and strategies. We are making and shall continue to make our views known to the US Administration and Congress to ensure that UK exports are not negatively affected as a result of any future lift of the EU embargo on arms sales to China. The European Council in December 2004 concluded that any decision on the arms embargo should not lead to

an increase in arms exports from EU Member States to China, neither in quantitative nor in qualitative terms".

Proposed exports from the UK defence industry to China will continue to be subject to the EU code of conduct, which is, and will remain, the key to controlling EU arms exports to China.

Colombia

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has made to the Colombian Government on the recent arrest of the Colombian Agricultural Trade Union representative Hernando Hernandez Tapasco; and if he will make a statement. [2860]

Mr. Douglas Alexander: Our embassy in Bogota has contacted the Colombian authorities to seek clarification of the circumstances surrounding the arrest of Hernando Hernandez Tapasco. The Colombians advise that he was lawfully arrested on 1 June 2005 in Bogota on suspicion of being a member of an illegal armed group.

Human rights are at the heart of our policy towards Colombia and we regularly raise such cases with the Colombian authorities. We also urge the Colombian
 
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Government to implement the recommendations arising from successive annual reports from the Colombia office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, and have offered our assistance to achieve this. Human rights have formed a significant strand in the three visits paid by Foreign and Commonwealth Office Ministers to Colombia in the last few years.

Correspondence

Sir Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when he will answer the letter dated 15 April from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Mrs. S. Siddique. [2632]

Dr. Howells: I refer my right hon. Friend to the answer I gave him on 7 June 2005, Official Report, column 547W.

Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when he will reply in full to the letter from the hon. Member for Totnes of 6 April 2005 regarding Kit Marshall of Thurlestone and his detainment at Miami airport in January. [4713]

Ian Pearson: In April, consular officials at our Vice-Consulate in Orlando approached the US Immigration authorities at Miami airport about Mr. Marshall's case. The US authorities told them that Mr. Marshall's complaint is serious and as a result, has been forwarded to their headquarters in Washington, for further investigation.

We await a substantive reply from the headquarters in Washington and will continue to remind them of the need to respond to Mr. Marshall's complaint as soon as possible. The hon. Member will receive a full reply as soon as we have further information from the US immigration authorities in Washington.

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