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19 Jan 2007 : Column 1402W—continued
Dr. Howells: Consular staff record this information whenever they become aware, either through providing consular assistance or notification from the local authorities, that a British national has been convicted of, or sentenced for, a crime overseas.
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether consulates abroad record the (a) name, (b) fingerprints, (c) passport number and (d) DNA of British criminals convicted abroad. [116227]
Dr. Howells: Where they become aware, either through providing consular assistance or notification from the local authorities, that a British national has been convicted of a crime overseas, consular staff record their names and, whenever available, their passport details. They do not record their fingerprints or DNA. Consular staff have no legal powers to request this information. Nor are authorities locally under obligation to pass on this information.
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what procedure her Department has in place for the transfer of the records of British criminals convicted abroad from consulates abroad to the London Consular Division. [116228]
Dr. Howells: When posts overseas are informed of the arrest of a British national, details of the arrest are entered by consular staff on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office central consular assistance database: “Compass”. Compass allows real time case management by staff overseas and in London, including details of convictions when known, so the separate transfer of records from consular staff overseas to the London Consular Division is not necessary.
EU Accounts
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs for how many years the accounts of the European Union have been denied authorisation by the official auditors; for what reasons the auditors have withheld their approval; and what steps are being taken by (a) member states and (b) EU bodies to resolve the problem. [116491]
Mr. Hoon:
The European Court of Auditors report on the 2005 European Commission Budget is the 12(th )year in succession in which they have been unable to issue a positive Statement of Assurance. This is the result of errors found in the sample of transactions which the Court audits. The bulk of these errors represent such things as small overpayments to farmers and payments for expenditure which do not meet strict eligibility rules. The UK, as announced to the House by my hon. Friend the Economic Secretary to the Treasury, on 20 November 2006, Official Report, columns 13-14WS, Denmark and the Netherlands are working to provide a better assurance of funds managed. The European Commission produced its Roadmap to an Integrated Internal Control Framework in July 2005, which the UK took forward under its Presidency of the EU, and have followed this
up with their Action Plan towards an Integrated Internal Control Framework in January 2006.
EU Constitution
Mr. Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to her written answer of 15 January 2007, Official Report, column 788W, on the EU Constitution, what terms of reference have been given to Mr. Kim Darroch and Ms Nicola Brewer in their role of liaising with the German EU Presidency in preparation for the political declaration and other possible ways to take the constitutional process forward. [116868]
Mr. Hoon: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to him on 16 January 2007, Official Report, columns 640-41.
Iraq
Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps the UK Government are taking to prevent the persecution of Mandaeans in Iraq. [116864]
Dr. Howells: Violence in Iraq continues at appallingly high levels and we are concerned about its effects on all communities in Iraq, including Mandean Baptists. Officials from our embassy in Baghdad last met with representatives of the Mandean community in August 2006 to discuss the problems they faced. In our regular contacts with the Iraqi government we press for action to protect people, regardless of faith or political persuasion, and to take tough measures against all perpetuating the violence.
The Iraqi Ministry of Human Rights is responsible for the protection of minorities in Iraq. We have supported the Ministry by providing advisers, training and human rights training material, including on the rights of minorities, to be used to educate officials in other government departments and institutions.
Kazakhstan
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if she will list the meetings attended by the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy to Kazakhstan during his visit to the country in September 2003; what subject matter was discussed at each meeting; and which individuals were in attendance at each. [117014]
Mr. Hoon: My noble Friend Lord Levy visited Kazakhstan on 1-2 September 2003 as my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy. During the visit he met President Nazarbayev, the President’s Foreign and Security Policy Adviser Massimov, Foreign Minister Tokaev and the Chairman of the National Bank Grigory Marchenko. During these meetings the then Ambassador, James Sharp, and a senior Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) official were present, as well as the Kazakh Ambassador to London Yerlan Idrissov and other Kazakh officials.
The subjects covered in these meetings included the political and economic development of Kazakhstan, and regional issues.
Details of all my noble Friend Lord Levy’s overseas visits and meetings as my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy are available on the FCO website.
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if she will list the occasions on which the Prime Minister's Special Envoy to Kazakhstan has visited the country since September 2003; and what meetings he took part in on each occasion. [117015]
Mr. Hoon: My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy, my noble Friend Lord Levy, has not made any visits to Kazakhstan since his visit in September 2003.
Details of Lord Levy’s overseas visits and meetings are available on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office website.
Overseas Convictions and Arrests
Mr. Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many cases of British citizens (a) arrested abroad and (b) convicted abroad have been reported by her Department to (i) the Home Office and (ii) British police in each of the last five years, broken down by country. [115879]
Dr. Howells [holding answer 15 January 2007]: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave him on 15 January 2007, Official Report, column 830W. We have not to date kept statistics on the number of cases that we have reported to the Serious Organised Crime Agency primarily because such statistics were not needed for our principal welfare function. However, in order to provide a wider spectrum of information, we are amending our procedures to collate such statistics in future. We are re-visiting our individual case files for the current and past financial year to collate statistics on the number of cases, with which we have dealt, involving serious crimes. My right hon. Friend the Home Secretary wrote to Cabinet colleagues on 16 January proposing a review of the way government shares information on criminality. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office will play a full role in that review.
Overseas Prisoners
Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many British citizens are currently (a) under arrest, (b) awaiting trial and (c) serving a prison sentence outside the United Kingdom, broken down by country of arrest and home nation of residence. [116015]
Dr. Howells
[holding answer 18 January 2007]: As at 30 September 2006, British consular officials were aware of 2,421 British nationals detained overseas. We provide consular assistance to any British national, regardless of country of residence. Additionally collecting data on nation of residence would not be possible because laws covering permanent residence,
temporary residence and visitor status vary considerably from country to country, making reliable and usable definition and collection impossible. The breakdown by country is shown in the following table.
| Country | Number |
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