| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
7 Mar 2006 : Column 1335W—continued
CABINET OFFICE
Ecovert FM
Mr. Liddell-Grainger: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will list the functions carried out by Ecovert FM in (a) the Cabinet Office and (b) Number 10 Downing street. [55309]
Mr. Jim Murphy: The Downing street complex forms an integral part of the Cabinet Office estate. The key functions carried out by Ecovert FM on the Cabinet Office estate are shown in the list. Alternative arrangements are in place in some buildings for some of the services listed.
Official Residences (Council Tax)
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what plans the Cabinet Secretary has to issue new (a) rules, (b) guidance and (c) procedures on council tax payments for Ministers with official residences. [56225]
Mr. Jim Murphy: I refer the hon. Member to the statement made by my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister on 12 January 2006, Official Report, column 782W.
Strategy Unit
Mr. Liddell-Grainger: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what the total cost of the Number 10 Strategy Unit was in February 2006; how many people were employed by the Unit; and how many were (a) civil servant and (b) political appointments. [55428]
Mr. Jim Murphy: For Strategy Unit costs, I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for North East Hertfordshire (Oliver Heald) on 27 February 2006, Official Report, column 43W.
45.74 full time equivalent (FTE) staff were employed by the Strategy Unit as at 28 February 2006. This total excludes six members of Strategy Unit staff who are on loan to other government departments, and are being paid by other government departments for the duration of the loan. The total also excludes five FTE individuals
7 Mar 2006 : Column 1336W
who were given an offer of employment with the Strategy Unit but were not in post as at 28 February 2006.
Of the 45.74 FTE staff, 42.4 FTE were civil servants. There were no political appointments.
Websites
Mr. Liddell-Grainger: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many websites the Government are responsible for. [55398]
Mr. Jim Murphy: The Cabinet Office does not hold figures on the number of websites operated across Government.
A domain name does not necessarily mean a website, a proportion of domain names will be used as redirects to other websites and for email systems.
Figures are held on the number of .gov.uk domain names that have been registered for use. At 31 January 2006 there were 3,746 approved gov.uk domain names for all levels of central, local and devolved government within the UK.
FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS
Afghanistan
Mr. Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what estimate he has made of the number of (a) civilians, (b) Afghan soldiers and (c) coalition soldiers who have been killed in Afghanistan in each quarter since January 2002. [56736]
Dr. Howells: Reports of the number of fatalities in Afghanistan since 2002 vary widely and are difficult to confirm.
In 2005, a total of 1,500 civilians and members of Afghan and international security forces are estimated to have lost their lives as a result of the persistent insurgency and general lawlessness.
Estimates for Afghan civilian and military fatalities since 2002 range from 4,000 to 10,000. Up to February 2006, the US-led operation enduring freedom coalition suffered 255 fatalities. Up to October 2005, the NATO-led international security assistance force suffered 55 fatalities.
Arms Trade
Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with his counterparts in (a) the United States of America and (b) member states of the EU in respect of the establishment of an international arms trade treaty. [56168]
Dr. Howells:
The Government are committed to pursuing an international treaty on the trade in all conventional arms. We discuss this initiative regularly with US and EU counterparts. Most recently with the US, our ambassador to the Conference on Disarmament discussed the initiative with officials in Washington on 27 February. During our presidency of the EU in the latter half of 2005, EU member states committed
7 Mar 2006 : Column 1337W
themselves to securing the start of a formal process at the United Nations at the earliest opportunity. We are now working to make this commitment a reality.
Chechnya
Mr. Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what estimate he has made of the number of (a) human rights and (b) other humanitarian personnel working in Chechnya. [56733]
Mr. Douglas Alexander: The UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs confirms that around 40 humanitarian organisations currently work in Chechnya. Not all have a permanent presence in Chechnya and very few have international staff based there. If international staff visit at all, they are usually sent in only for the day. We estimate that these organisations have over a 100 staff, both international and local, working on rotation in Chechnya. But we have no means of assessing with any precision the number of international aid workers who have passed in and out of Chechnya. Many non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have offices in Chechnya staffed by locals.
Human rights work complements much of the work done by the humanitarian organisations. We estimate that there are fewer than 10 human rights organisations operating in Chechnya, but there are no accurate estimate of numbers of either organisations or staff operating in the region. Specific human rights NGOs do have local staff in Chechnya, and human rights workers based elsewhere in the Russian Federation regularly travel to Chechnya.
Correspondence
Sir Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when he will reply to the letter to him dated 12 January from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton, with regard to Attiya Rani. [55760]
Dr. Howells: My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary replied to my right hon. Friend regarding Ms Attiya Rani, on 3 February 2006.
Costa Rica
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the recent elections in Costa Rica. [55677]
Mr. Douglas Alexander: Presidential elections took place in Costa Rica on 5 February 2006. The Costa Rican Election Tribunal has not yet been able to make an official announcement since it has yet to resolve some 200 nullity pleas. A formal result is expected soon and the presidential inauguration is due to take place on 8 May.
The head of the Election Observation Mission from the Organisation of American States (OAS) has praised the peaceful conduct of the elections and the functioning of the electoral system.
7 Mar 2006 : Column 1338W
Egypt
Mr. Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the imprisonment of Ayman Nour in Egypt. [56109]
Dr. Howells: On 27 December 2005, the UK, speaking as the presidency of the European Union, made a statement on the verdict and imprisonment of Ayman Nour. The full text of the statement can be found at: http://www.eu2005.gov.uk/servlet/Front?pagename=OpenMarket/Xcelerate/ShowPage&c=Page&cid=l107293561746&a=KArticle&aid=l134650253515
Mr. Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on President Mubarak's decision to postpone local elections in Egypt scheduled for April. [56112]
Dr. Howells: The People's Assembly approved legislation on 14 February, which postponed local government elections for two years, to allow efforts to reform local government on more democratic and decentralised principles. President Mubarak pledged to undertake political reform during his election campaign for the first ever multi-party presidential elections.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |