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Written Answers to Questions
The following answers were received between Friday 22 July and Monday 5 September 2005
PRIME MINISTER
Delegations to Parliamentary Assemblies
Tony Lloyd: To ask the Prime Minister, if he willannounce the membership of the United Kingdomdelegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe. [15040]
The Prime Minister: I am pleased to announce that the United Kingdom delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe is as follows:
Tony Lloyd: To ask the Prime Minister, if he will announce the full composition of the United Kingdom delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and the Assembly of Western European Union. [15041]
The Prime Minister: I am pleased to announce that the United Kingdom delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and Assembly of Western European Union is as follows:
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G8 summit (Gleneagles)
Norman Baker: To ask the Prime Minister, how many vehicles the Government used in relation to the G8 summit in Gleneagles, broken down by make and model. [15078]
Ian Pearson: I have been asked to reply.
In relation to the G8 summit, the Government used 246 vehicles. These included 20 cars, 47 people carriers, three articulated lorries, 21, 7.5 tonne trucks, six vans and 149 coaches. The cars used, broken down by make and model, were five Jaguar XJ, nine Volvo S80, one Peugeot 607, one Vauxhall Omega Elite, and four Mercedes E-Class. The people carriers used, broken down by make and model, were 31 Ford Galaxy carriers, two Volvo seven seaters, seven Chrysler Grand Voyagers, two Volkswagen Caravelles, three Mercedes V Class, one Volkswagen Sharan, and one Vauxhall Viano. To provide information on vehicle makes and model of the coaches, trucks and vans used would incur disproportionate cost, but the break down in size of the coaches used was 118, 49-seater coaches, 10, 70-seater coaches, 20, 16-seater coaches, and one 38-seater coach.
We went to great efforts, beyond those previously undertaken in Government, to make the G8 as environmentally sustainable as possible. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) investigated using a wide range of low emissions technologies and as a result as many vehicles as possible used an advanced low emission form of diesel. Every effort was made to limit journeys and ensure that the maximum number of passengers were transported at one time. In addition, the FCO looked into the possibility of using environmentally friendly vehicles such as the Toyota Prius and the hydrogen-fuelled bus owned by London buses. Unfortunately, due to various logistical constraints this did not prove possible. The hydrogen-fuelled bus has a very limited mileage and can only be refuelled in London. Therefore, to transport it to Scotland for use during the Summit would not have proved sustainable or environmentally friendly. The FCO were offered the use of Toyota Prius cars as part of a sponsorship package. Unfortunately this offer did not prove to be financially viable to the FCO, as the FCO would have been required to supply both drivers or insurance, as well as transporting the vehicles to Scotland, at considerable cost.
In other areas too, the FCO implemented a range of measures aimed at minimising the environmental impacts of the Summit. These included using local or Fairtrade. produce, drawing up a Supplier Code of Conduct" for contractors to ensure they shared our commitment to demonstrating the highest standard of environmental and social accountability, and as much as possible pursuing the 3 Rs policy—Reduce, Recycle, Reuse. The FCO encouraged and facilitated recycling at
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the Gleneagles summit and worked closely with the local council to ensure that the contents were disposed of correctly.
These efforts continue. Currently, the G8 Climate Change Unit in Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is in the process of calculating the level of carbon emissions attributable to the UK's presidency of the G8 that could not be eliminated. They will offset these by investing in small-scale Clean Development Mechanism projects, with strong sustainable development benefits, located in Africa.
Norman Baker: To ask the Prime Minister, how many (a) Ministers and (b) officials on the UK delegation to the G8 summit travelled to and from Gleneagles by (i) car, (ii) train, (iii) aeroplane, (iv) bus and (v) helicopter. [15079]
Ian Pearson: I have been asked to reply.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) went to great efforts, beyond those previously undertaken in Government, to make the G8 as environmentally sustainable as possible. However, given the intensity of the workload experienced by the UK delegation in the run up to and during the summit itself, the FCO needed to balance the issue of sustainability against the organisational requirements of the event. In the majority of cases this meant UK officials travelling to Gleneagles in the shortest time possible.
153 UK officials travelled to and from Scotland by aeroplane. One UK official travelled to and from Scotland by train. Three Ministers, my right hon. Friends the Prime Minister, the Secretary of State for International Development (Hilary Benn), and my noble Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Lord Triesman of Tottenham), also travelled to Scotland by aeroplane. They travelled to and from the Gleneagles Hotel by a combination of helicopters and cars. My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary travelled to and from the Gleneagles Hotel by helicopter in order to chair the meeting while the Prime Minister returned to London on 7 July 2005.
The FCO examined other ways to minimise the environmental impacts caused by delegates' travel. 144 UK officials travelled to and from the airports of arrival and departure to the Gleneagles Hotel by high occupancy vehicles including coach or people carrier. Only a small number of these officials accompanied delegations on their helicopter transfers during the summit. Nine UK officials accompanied the Prime Minister and travelled to and from the Gleneagles Hotel by helicopter. In addition, the G8 Climate Change Unit in Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs are currently in the process of calculating the level of carbon emissions attributable to the summit. These will be offset by investing in small-scale Clean Development Mechanism projects, with strong sustainable development benefits, located in Africa.
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INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Africa (Debt Relief)
Mr. Fabian Hamilton: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what conditions he has attached to debt relief for heavily indebted poor countries in Africa. [14718]
Hilary Benn: Debt relief is provided to enable countries to make faster progress towards the Millennium Development Goals. It is essential therefore that the resources made available by the relief are used for poverty reduction. In providing debt relief under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative, the UK abides by the standards agreed internationally. Under these standards, countries must demonstrate a sustained commitment to poverty reduction and macroeconomic stability as part of an International Monetary Fund programme, Macroeconomic stability is critical to provide a foundation for growth, avoid adverse effects of inflation on the poor and to protect Government expenditure that benefits the poor. The debt stock cancellation recently proposed by the G8 would also use these standards.
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