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Peter Hogarth Report

Andrew Mackinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will place in the Library the report he commissioned from Peter Hogarth into the working of his Office. [40487]

 
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Mr. Straw [holding answer 9 January 2006]: No, because to do so in this case would impair the free and frank provision of advice to Ministers on which the effective conduct of government depends. However, I have written to my hon. Friend today to give him an account of this report, its origins, conclusions and recommendations and will place a copy of my letter in the Library of the House.

Scrutiny Reserve

Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many times the Scrutiny Reserve was overridden in (a) 2005 and (b) the last six months of 2005. [40947]

Mr. Douglas Alexander: In 2005, the Scrutiny Reserve Resolution was overridden on 77 occasions. There were 55 occasions between January-June 2005 and 22 occasions between July-December 2005. Figures for the first half of 2005 include a period when Parliament was dissolved and a period immediately after the opening of Parliament before the European Scrutiny Committee and the European Union Committee in the House of Lords could be appointed. These figures update information provided in my answer to the hon. Member on 17 January 2006, Official Report, column 1290W, when estimated figures were provided as data was still being collected from other Departments. Details of the occasions between July-December 2005, and of two additional cases not recorded in the report for January-June 2005, will be provided to the European Scrutiny Committee in line with the Government's commitment to provide the Committee with twice-yearly reports on scrutiny overrides.

Secret Intelligence Service

Mr. Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what definition he uses of significant operations for which the Secret Intelligence Service must obtain his prior permission. [55317]

Dr. Howells: The Foreign Secretary's responsibility for the work of the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) is set out in the 1994 Intelligence Services Act.

It is the longstanding policy of the Government not to comment on operational intelligence matters.

Spending Review (Efficiency Targets)

Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what interim targets he has set for achieving (a) the agreed efficiency target for his Department and (b) the civil service work force reductions targets for (i) gross reductions in posts, (ii) net reductions in posts and (iii) relocations for his Department, as set out in the 2004 spending review; what the baseline figures are against which these interim targets are assessed; on what dates they will take effect; and by what dates these interim targets are intended to be met. [52909]

Ian Pearson: The target efficiency gains for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) are £38.7 million for 2005–06, £65.3 million for 2006–07 and £86.7 million for 2007–08. These gains will be delivered from a number of distinct projects. Details of the projects, including baselines, are set out in the FCO's
 
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Efficiency Technical Note published on our website. Each project will have one or more baseline. For some projects the baselines are straightforward, for instance payments to BBC Monitoring (project 6) were £7.1 million in 2004–05. For other projects there are separate baselines for each process impacted, for instance Prism (project 5) has separate baselines for over 100 benefits.

Increases in the number of staff providing services directly to the public that are fully funded by fees paid by users of those services e.g. through the purchase of visas and UK passports, have been agreed with HM Treasury. Demand for these services, and hence the income derived from them, is increasing and this enables the FCO to employ more staff to meet the demand. The civil service work force reduction targets in other areas of the FCO in full-time equivalents are 165 by 31 March 2006, 265 by 31 March 2007 and 313 by 31 March 2008. These reductions are against a baseline of 5,379 full-time equivalents (this excludes consular and entry clearance staff).

The target relocations are 450 staff. Not all the functions which will be relocated are yet agreed but as relocations take place the baseline is set as the number of staff (if any) who were performing that function in the new location before the relocation takes place.

Sudan

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent assessment he has made of the impact of the African Union mission on (a) the security situation in Darfur and (b) the activities of the Janjaweed; and if he will make a statement. [56441]

Ian Pearson: The African Union mission (AMIS) is doing a good job under difficult circumstances. Where it has deployed there has been a decrease in attacks by all parties, including the janjaweed" Arab militias. In December 2005, the UK participated in an international assessment mission conducting an in-depth review of AMIS. This concluded that AMIS has had a positive effect on both the security and humanitarian situations in Darfur and recommended further steps to increase its effectiveness. We are working closely with the African Union to ensure these steps are taken. The UK has provided more than £50 million to date to support AMIS.

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with (a) (i) members and (ii) representatives of the government of Sudan, (b) leaders of African Union States and (c) members of the UN Security Council on the planned handover of the African Union mission to Darfur to the United Nations; and if he will make a statement. [56468]

Ian Pearson: We have had a number of discussions with different parties involved on the possible handover of the African Union (AU) Mission in Darfur to the United Nations. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for International Development discussed this with both the Government of Sudan and the AU during his visit to Sudan last month. My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary and my noble Friend, the Foreign
 
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and Commonwealth Office Minister for Africa, Lord Triesman of Tottenham, also discussed the matter during talks with the Sudanese Foreign Minister in London last month. The AU is likely to take a decision shortly.

Mr. Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent discussions he has had with his EU counterparts regarding a future full-scale NATO mission in Darfur; and if he will make a statement. [56107]

Mr. Douglas Alexander: The focus of discussions in both EU and NATO has been on support to the African Union's (AU) Mission in Darfur (AMIS), until the expected hand over from AMIS to a UN force in Darfur later this year. The AU is likely to take a decision on transfer to a UN force at the meeting of its Political and Security Committee on 10 March.

Syria

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent discussions he has had with the Government of Syria on (a) respect for human rights, (b) the transition to good governance and (c) the importance of democratic values. [55446]

Dr. Howells: Our Embassy in Damascus, along with EU partners, continue to raise our concerns about human rights, good governance and democracy with Syrian officials. In October 2005, as part of the Campaign on Freedom of Expression, the UK, as Presidency of the EU, and Troika colleagues delivered a demarche to the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs urging them to take action in the case of a number of detained human rights defenders.

There has been no recent formal Ministerial contact with the Government of Syria.

WORK AND PENSIONS

Advice to Benefit Recipients (Private and Voluntary Sector Organisations)

Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what barriers he identified to the provision by private and voluntary sector organisations of welfare to work and employment advice service to benefit recipients as a part of existing and planned Government programmes; and if he will make a statement. [51739]

Margaret Hodge: Many organisations work with us to develop and improve the effectiveness of our service delivery and our evidence-based approach to policy design enables us to devise programmes that best meet the needs of our clients in gaining employment.

The private and voluntary sector (PVS) delivers a significant proportion of our services to the public and we intend continuing and, indeed, extending these partnerships. All our contracts are awarded on a basis of open and competitive tender and the great majority of these contracts are awarded to the PVS, and so there is no evidence of significant barriers to providers from this sector.
 
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Furthermore, we have proposed in our recently published Green Paper—"A new deal for welfare: Empowering people to work"—that this sector will have the primary delivery role in the next phase of our Pathways to Work programme. We will be consulting with the PVS—and other stakeholders—as we progress to ensure that there is opportunity for such organisations to bid to participate in delivering this broader range of services.

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