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Police Service

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the average Police Service of Northern Ireland emergency response time was in each policing district in each of the past 18 months; and what steps are being taken to improve response times. [9126]

Mr. Woodward: Recording of response times commenced on 1 April 2005. The current Policing Plan requires the Police Service of Northern Ireland to work towards establishing a baseline for measuring police response times to emergency calls. Work is ongoing to establish how this might be achieved, and a report will be made at the end of the financial year. Improvement in response times cannot be measured until this baseline is established.

Mr. Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many civilian workers in security jobs at Police Service of Northern Ireland stations have been given training with weapons. [9480]

 
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Mr. Woodward: No civilian workers in security jobs at PSNI stations have been given training with weapons as part of their role.

CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS

Elections

Mr. Djanogly: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what estimate she has made of the number of complaints made by voters concerning their votes being cast illegitimately by someone other than themselves during the general election 2005. [11691]

Ms Harman: My Department has received no complaints from voters alleging that their votes were cast illegitimately by someone other than themselves during the 2005 general election.

Our advice to any person who suspects that electoral malpractice may have taken place, is that they should report their suspicions to their local police force.

Mr. Djanogly: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many postal votes were received by returning officers after the polling day of the 2005 general election, broken down by parliamentary constituency. [11706]

Ms Harman: Returning officers have a duty to complete a 'statement as to postal ballot papers' for each election (form K, schedule 3 to the Representation of the People (England and Wales) Regulations 2001). This includes the total of postal ballot papers that arrived too late to be included in the count.

The Electoral Commission will collate and publish this information later this summer, as part of their general duty to report on UK parliamentary elections.

Mr. Djanogly: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs if she will list the Commonwealth countries that have reciprocal agreements with the UK over residential qualifications for voting in (a) local elections and (b) national elections. [11709]

Ms Harman: The Representation of the People Act 1983 provides that all Commonwealth citizens who are lawfully resident in the UK are entitled to vote in parliamentary and local elections. Decisions about voting rights of British citizens resident in other Commonwealth countries are for the individual countries concerned.

Mr. Hollobone: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what percentage of the voting electorate voted by (a) post and (b) proxy in the last general election, broken down by constituency. [10718]

Ms Harman: Returning Officers have a duty to complete a 'statement as to postal ballot papers' for each election (form K, schedule 3 to the Representation of the People (England and Wales) Regulations 2001). This includes the total number of postal votes issued and subsequently returned.
 
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The Electoral Commission will collate and publish this information later this summer, as part of their general duty to report on UK parliamentary elections. The report will also include figures on proxy voting.

Freedom of Information Act

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what provisional assessment was made of the likely implications for (a) staffing and (b) expenditure of applications to the National Archives under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 for copies of personal details from households listed in the 1911 decennial Census for England and Wales. [9514]

Ms Harman: Section 41 of the FOI Act relating to breach of confidence has been applied to all applications received since January 2005 to view individual 1911 census returns. The National Archives is currently developing plans including staff development and expenditure allocations to make the 1911 census publicly available in 2012 in line with government policy to release decennial census returns after a period of 100 years.

Public Records Act

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs whether the Public Records Act 1958 extended 100-year closure of the 1911 decennial census for England and Wales still applies. [9550]

Ms Harman: Since January 2005 the section 41 exemption of the FOI Act relating to breach of confidence has been applied to all applications received to view individual 1911 census returns. It remains government policy to make census returns publicly available after a period of 100 years.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH OFFICE

Ahmadi Muslim Community

Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State forForeign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has made to the Government of (a) Pakistan and (b) Bangladesh on the persecution of the Ahmadi Muslim community; and if he will make a statement. [11163]

Dr. Howells: We regularly raise our human rights concerns with the Government of Pakistan, including our concerns about the experiences of religious minorities including the Ahmadi community. We judge that collective action through the EU is the most effective method of voicing these concerns. The EU most recently demarched the Government of Pakistan on these subjects on 30 June 2005.

We are concerned by the apparent increase in intolerance towards religious minorities in Bangladesh, including the Ahmadi community. We regularly raise
 
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these concerns with the Government of Bangladesh, both bilaterally and with EU partners. My hon. Friend the Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Douglas Alexander) did so with the Bangladeshi Prime Minister on a visit to Dhaka on 21 December. The local EU presidency did so most recently during a call on the Bangladeshi Home Minister on 14 May.

Chechnya

Stephen Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent discussions the Government have held with the Russian Government regarding its military involvement in Chechnya. [10704]

Mr. Douglas Alexander: We remain concerned about the human rights situation in Chechnya. We are especially concerned about the culture of impunity, with continuing reports of extra-judicial killings, arbitrary detention and torture. We frequently raise our concerns with the Russian Government, both bilaterally and in multilateral fora. These include concerns about the military component of Russia's response to the problems in Chechnya. Bilaterally, we most recently discussed Chechnya in depth during the UK-Russia Human Rights dialogue on 23 May, when we expressed our belief that effective maintenance of security and actions to counter terrorism should be pursued within a framework that respects human rights and international humanitarian law. We also discussed Chechnya during the EU-Russia human rights consultations held in March 2005.

Correspondence

Sir Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when he expects to reply to the letter to him dated 26 May from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton, with regard to Mr. Mohammad Chaudhary. [10690]

Dr. Howells: My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary replied to my right hon. Friend's letter of 26 May concerning Mr. Mohammad Chaudhary on 13 June. UKvisas re-sent a copy of this letter on 6 July.

Sir Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when he expects to reply to the letter to him dated 19 May from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton, with regard to Mr. Mukhtar Ali. [10691]

Dr. Howells: I refer my right hon. Friend to my earlier reply of 4 July 2005, Official Report, column 181W. A further copy of our reply has been forwarded to my right hon. Friend's constituency office for information.

Mr. Winnick: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when he will replyto the letter from the hon. Member for Walsall, North of 26 May to the Home Office which was subsequently transferred to his Department, regarding a constituent. [10729]

Dr. Howells [holding answer 11 July 2005]: My noble Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Lord Triesman of Tottenham) replied to my hon. Friend on 7 July.
 
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