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24 July 2007 : Column 1053W—continued
Departments: Air Conditioning
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how much was spent by his Department and its agencies on the hire of mobile air conditioning units in each of the last five years. [151974]
Mr. Jim Murphy: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has spent the following amounts on the hire of air conditioning units in the last five years:
| £ | |
All sums aforementioned are net of VAT.
The information provided is applicable to the FCO’s UK estate only.
Departments: Flint Bishop
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether (a) his Department and (b) its agencies have made payment to Flint Bishop Solicitors since 1997. [151398]
Mr. Jim Murphy: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has not made any payments to Flint Bishop Solicitors in this period.
Departments: Legislation
Mr. Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what legislative provisions introduced by his Department since 1997 have not yet been brought into force. [149559]
Mr. Jim Murphy: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has been responsible for the introduction of 12 Acts of Parliament since 1997 of which the Nuclear Explosions (Prohibitions and Inspections) Act 1998 and the Arms Control and Disarmament (Inspections) Act 2003 have not yet been brought into force.
Mr. Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what legislative provisions introduced by his Department since 1997 have been repealed. [149588]
Mr. Jim Murphy: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has been responsible for the introduction of 12 Acts of Parliament since 1997, none of which have been repealed.
Departments: Private Education
Mr. Pope: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how much was spent on providing education in independent schools for the children of employees of his Department (a) who are based in the UK and (b) in total in the last year for which figures are available. [150916]
Meg Munn: It is a condition of employment that members of the Diplomatic Service must be prepared to serve anywhere in the world at any time during their career, sometimes at very short notice. Those with children also have a legal obligation as parents to ensure that their children receive full-time education from the age of five years. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office's (FCO) provisions for children's education are intended to help staff meet these potentially conflicting obligations.
We expect children who accompany their parents on postings overseas to use free state schooling if it is available locally and suitable. If suitable English-language schooling is not available free of charge
locally, but is available at fee-charging schools, we refund fees to enable children to receive the education they would be entitled to in the UK.
With staff and their families having to move at regular intervals, sometimes at short notice and at times which may disrupt schooling for their children, and education facilities at posts overseas varying (or not being available at all), continuity of education can be problematic particularly during the important exam years. The FCO's continuity of education allowance addresses this problem by enabling children to board at schools in the UK as long as their parents remain subject to the world-wide mobility obligation and take up postings overseas.
The amount we spent in the financial year 2006-07 on providing education in independent schools for children whose parents are temporarily based in the UK is £7.6 million. The total amount we have spent on continuity of education allowance for staff in the UK and overseas during the financial year 2006-07 is £13 million.
Departments: Visits Abroad
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many overseas visits were made by (a) officials and (b) Ministers within his responsibility, and at what cost, in each year since 1997. [151642]
Mr. Jim Murphy: This information can be provided only at disproportionate cost. Since 1999, the Government have published on an annual basis a list of all overseas visits by Cabinet Ministers costing in excess of £500, as well as the total cost of all ministerial travel overseas. Copies of the lists are available in the Libraries of the House. Information for 2006-07 is currently being compiled and will be published before the summer recess. All travel is undertaken in accordance with the “Civil Service Management Code”, the “Ministerial Code” and “Travel by Ministers”.
Entry Clearances: Health Professions
Anne Milton: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many medical students from non-EEA countries applied for visas to complete training in the UK in each of the last five years; how many were accepted; and if he will make a statement. [151142]
Meg Munn: Subject to satisfying the relevant paragraph of the immigration rules, overseas qualified medical personnel can enter the UK in either the postgraduate doctor, PLAB test (Professional and Linguistic Assessment Board Test), or clinical attachment categories. We do not distinguish between undergraduate and graduate students.
Applications recorded in each category are:
| Received | Issued | Refused | |
Prior to 2005 data were not kept on all categories. These statistics have not been published and should be used for information purposes only.
The total number of applications issued and refused may not equal the number of applications received due to applications being withdrawn or lapsed. Additionally, applications can be carried forward from one year to the next before being resolved, for example if they have been referred to the Home Office for a decision or deferred for further inquiries.
EU Reform: Treaties
Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs in which areas he expects qualified majority voting to replace unanimity under the new European Constitutional Treaty. [148188]
Mr. Jim Murphy: The Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe is now defunct. The mandate for a Reform Treaty agreed by the European Council states clearly:
“The constitutional concept, which consisted in repealing all existing Treaties and replacing them by a single text called “Constitution”, is abandoned.”
The Government expect the new Reform Treaty to contain extensions of Qualified Majority Voting (QMV) under 50 Articles. However, the number of extensions that will apply to the UK will be significantly less than 50. We expect 13 extensions will not apply to the UK. Nine of these relate to Justice and Home Affairs (where we have secured an extension of
our existing opt-in mechanism). Three relate to the euro (where our opt-out applies). One relates to social security (where we will have an emergency brake including a veto power).
Existing areas of policy activity moved from unanimity to QMV
1. Immigration and frontier controls (UK opt-in)
2. Judicial co-operation in criminal matters (UK opt-in)
3. Minimum rules for criminal offences and sanctions (UK opt-in)
4. Eurojust (structure, operation, field of action and tasks) (UK opt-in)
5. Police co-operation (data sharing and training) (UK opt-in)
6. Europol (structure, operation, field of action and tasks) (UK opt-in)
7. Social security (measures to facilitate free movement of workers) (emergency brake including a veto power)
8. Co-ordination of provisions for self-employed persons (measures to facilitate self-employment in other member states)
9. Transport (removes existing limited derogation)
10. Culture (incentive measures to promote cultural awareness and diversity)
Existing institutional/procedural measures moved from unanimity to QMV
11. Appointment of European Central Bank executive board (UK opt-out)
12. Comitology (rules enabling member states to oversee the Commission’s exercise of its implementing powers)
13. Financial regulations (rules on budgetary and accounting procedures)
14. Specialised courts (establishment of specialised first instance courts)
15. European Court of Justice statute
16. Amendments to certain parts of the statute of the European System of Central Banks
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