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1 Feb 2008 : Column 710W—continued
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Andrei Lugovoi: Extradition
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent discussions he has had at meetings of the Council of Ministers on (a) the European Union response to the murder of Alexander Litvinenko and (b) the refusal of the Russian authorities to extradite Andrei Lugovoi; and if he will make a statement. [182189]
Mr. Jim Murphy [holding answer 31 January 2008]: We have been working at all levels with our partners in the EU to maintain EU pressure on Russia to ensure Andrei Lugovoi faces charges in connection with the assassination of Alexander Litvinenko in the UK. Our EU partners support our view that this is an issue which needs to be pursued within the framework of the EU’s relations with Russia. We continue to demand that Lugovoi should stand trial in the UK. We have made clear to partners that Lugovoi remains charged with murder in the UK and is liable to prosecution here.
My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary in his statement of 16 July 2007, Official Report, columns 21-22, undertook to keep the House informed of any significant development in this case.
Arms Trade
Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what information the Government collates on the activities of individual arms dealers, with particular reference to those who are reported to have (a) broken UN sanctions and (b) supplied countries where UK armed forces are operating. [183628]
Mr. Jim Murphy: The Export Control Organisation at the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform is the licensing authority for strategic exports in the UK. It sets out the regulatory framework under which licence applications are considered, and my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise, and Regulatory Reform takes the formal decision to issue or refuse export licences or refuse export licence applications in accordance with the appropriate legislation and announced policy. Information about arms brokers who have had their proposed export licence application either refused or revoked is shared with HM Revenue and Customs and the Revenue and Customs Prosecution Office to ensure that the decision is enforced. Where the Government receives information that an exporter has attempted to circumvent export control rules, the relevant Government departments and agencies will take action. For example, the arms broker John Knight was recently jailed for four years for breaching export controls relating to a brokered transaction between Kuwait and Iraq. This case illustrates that the legislation introduced under the Trade in Goods (Control) Order 2004 is making an impact.
The UK has one of the most rigorous and transparent export licensing regimes in the world. All licence applications are assessed on a case-by-case basis against “The Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria”. The criteria cover in detail how we assess each case. Specifically criterion 5b states:
“the risk of the goods concerned being used against UK forces”. If there appears to any risk of this being the case, a licence will not be issued.
Cyprus
Mr. Hands: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the answer of 14 January 2008, Official Report, column 851W, on Cyprus, if he will place in the Library the full itinerary of the visit to Cyprus by the Government's Special Representative to Cyprus, the hon. Member for Enfield, North, in October 2007. [180430]
Mr. Jim Murphy: My right hon. Friend the Member for Enfield, North (Joan Ryan) visited Cyprus from 1 to 4 October 2007, in her capacity as my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister's Special Representative to Cyprus. I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to him on 14 January 2007, Official Report, columns 850-851W for details of her programme.
Mr. Hands: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the answer of 14 January 2008, Official Report, column 851W, on Cyprus, if he will list the (a) date, (b) venue and (c) people attending each meeting in the UK attended by the hon. Member for Enfield, North in her official capacity as the Government's Special Representative to Cyprus. [180431]
Mr. Jim Murphy: In her capacity as my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister's Special Representative to Cyprus, my hon. Friend the Member for Enfield, North (Joan Ryan) holds regular meetings in the UK with representatives of the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities, other interested parties, Foreign and Commonwealth Office officials and Ministers.
Departmental Email
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will take steps to reduce the number of hard copies of e-mails printed by officials in his Department. [179469]
Meg Munn: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) actively encourages staff to minimise the environmental impact of printing e-mails through advice to delete any unnecessary text, to use duplex printing wherever possible and to print several pages per side of paper. A prepared message, prompting e-mail recipients to consider the necessity of printing, is available for inclusion as a part of staff e-mail signature blocks.
In the slightly longer term, the reduced distribution of printers attached to the FCO's new desktop IT system will provide a practical means of discouraging casual printing of documents, including e-mails.
European Union: Exhibitions
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what information his Department holds on the cost of EU pavilions at international events. [181768]
Mr. Jim Murphy: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office does not hold information on the cost of EU pavilions at international events.
Georgia: Elections
Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the conduct of the recent presidential elections in Georgia. [183460]
Mr. Jim Murphy: The Government accept the assessment of the International Election Observation Mission (IEOM), led by the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE)/Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR). On 6 January, the IEOM reported in their preliminary findings that the election process
“was in essence consistent with most OSCE and Council of Europe commitments and standards for democratic elections, [but] significant challenges were revealed which need to be addressed urgently.”
The final assessment of the election, which has not yet been issued, depends, in part, on the conduct of the concluding stages of the election process, including the tabulation and announcement of final results and the handling of possible post-election day complaints or appeals. The indications from the OSCE/ODIHR post-election interim report of 18 January are that there were a number of problems in these areas. The OSCE/ODIHR will issue a comprehensive final report in the coming weeks.
We, and our EU partners, have urged Georgia to take all necessary steps to address the identified shortcomings in order to ensure successful parliamentary elections later this year. As I said in a public statement on the elections on 7 January, Georgia needs to do more to reinforce the independence of state institutions in a political campaign environment and to strengthen the freedom and pluralism of the media, as well as the independence of the judiciary.
Iraq: Oil
Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent assessment he has made of Iraq's contribution to total world oil pollution; and if he will make a statement. [183619]
Mr. Jim Murphy: We have not made any recent assessment of Iraq's contribution to total world oil pollution.
Sudan: Peacekeeping Operations
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what training the civilian police in UNAMID have received in dealing with gender issues such as rape; and if he will make a statement. [183365]
Mr. Jim Murphy:
The 1,400 civilian police currently in Darfur as part of the African Union/UN Hybrid operation in Darfur (UNAMID) were transferred from the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS). They
received training from EU police advisers working with AMIS, which included training on community policing and gender-based violence.
The UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations is currently preparing pre-deployment training for extra officers to bring UN AMID's police component up to 6,500 officers. Their training will be discussed at a meeting in Accra in February, at which the UK will press for gender issues to be covered.
Terrorism: Finance
Mr. Paul Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will set out how the £400 million committed during the next three years by his Department, the Department for International Development and the British Council to tackle radicalisation and promote understanding overseas as announced by the Prime Minister in his statement of 14 November 2007, Official Report, column 668W, on national security, is to be spent. [183578]
Mr. Jim Murphy [holding answer 31 January 2008]: I refer the hon. Member to the answer the Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for Pontypridd (Dr. Howells) gave to him on 27 November 2007, Official Report, columns 347-48W: that the Government will report back on action overseas with other countries to counter extremism when we launch the full national security strategy.
Turkmenistan: Human Rights
Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the human rights situation in Turkmenistan since the death of Saparmurat Niazov in December 2006; and if he will make a statement. [178744]
Mr. Jim Murphy: Since the death of President Niyazov in December 2006 and the election of President Berdimuhamedov in February 2007, there has been some positive progress on human rights. There has been a greater willingness by Turkmenistan to engage on human rights issues with international organisations, including the EU, UN and the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe. Louise Arbour, the UN Human Rights Commissioner, visited Turkmenistan in April 2007 and there is an outstanding invitation to the UN Rapporteur on Religious Freedom to visit. The EU Special Representative for Central Asia, Pierre Morel, and Javier Solana, High Representative for EU Common Foreign and Security Policy, discussed human rights with president Berdimuhamedov on several occasions in 2007, including during Berdimuhamedov’s visit to Brussels in November 2007. The first EU-Turkmenistan ad hoc dialogue on human rights took place in Brussels in September 2007. The Minister for Energy, my hon. Friend the Member for Croydon, North (Malcolm Wicks) raised human rights concerns during his visit to Turkmenistan in September 2007.
In August 2007, President Berdimuhamedov pardoned and released from prison a number of individuals who had been detained following the coup attempt on President
Niyazov in 2002. These included Nasrullah Ibn Ibadullah, the former Chief Mufti. The UK has regularly lobbied for Ibadullah’s release, bilaterally and jointly with EU partners, most recently the week before he was pardoned. Internal freedom of movement has improved. Checkpoints and roadblocks have been removed and it is easier for Turkmen citizens to travel to border areas. In contrast to previous practice, the new president has asked the international community to provide scholarships for young citizens of Turkmenistan to study abroad and has publicly encouraged young people to take up these opportunities.
However, there remains a long way to go. The education system will need time to recover from years of neglect under President Niyazov. There is still no press freedom and no freedom of expression. President Berdimuhamedov has recently made statements criticising the quality of the media, but it is too early to say if this means any relaxation of controls on the media. There is only one political party, and religion and civil society are tightly controlled. Non-governmental organisations registration remains a lengthy and complex process and the Government has not yet addressed this issue.
The UK will continue to urge Turkmenistan to address human rights issues and will support genuine efforts to do so, both bilaterally and with international partners. We will continue to work through the EU-Turkmenistan ad hoc Dialogue on Human Rights and through the EU’s Central Asia Strategy, which has as one of its main themes the support for good governance, rule of law and human rights.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s 2008 Annual Human Rights Report win contain further analysis of the human rights situation in Turkmenistan.
Health
Abortion: Freedom of Information
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what files are held by his Department on the Unborn Children (Protection) Bill of Session 1986-87; and if he will make a statement. [182667]
Dawn Primarolo: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 23 January 2008, Official Report, column 2066W.
Alcoholic Drinks
Sandra Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the extent to which alcohol is being sold at a price lower than the cost of duty payable on it. [182816]
Dawn Primarolo: The Department has commissioned an independent review, currently under way, to be carried out by a research team from the University of Sheffield, of the evidence on how and in what circumstance price and promotion—including discounting, price-based promotions and advertising—drive consumption of alcohol and harms from alcohol. The review will report in summer 2008. Following this the Government will consider the need for action, including regulatory change, and consult publicly on any proposals.
Blood: Donors
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what targets have been set for blood donation; and what performance has been against those targets in the last period for which figures are available. [181833]
Dawn Primarolo: As of 20 January 2008, actual collections for this financial year stood at 1,531,900 units against a planned target of 1,548,300 units for this period. However, the National Blood Service continues to meet hospital demand for blood, currently fulfilling 99.97 per cent. of demand.
Carers
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment Lord Darzi made of the role of carers in his research for his report on the NHS. [181832]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The national health service ‘Our NHS, our future’ Next Stage Review is primarily a local process. Eight clinical pathway groups in each strategic health authority region are considering how to improve personalisation in each pathway. They are doing this in partnership with patients, carers and their advocates. National working groups have been set up to consider the emerging issues which will require action at a national level, including primary and community care strategy.
The national working groups will look closely at what the local clinical working groups tell them are the enablers and barriers to change and will seek input from wider stakeholder organisations, including those representing carers. This national work will, along with the work of the local clinical working groups, form the basis of Lord Darzi's final report in June on the future of the NHS in England.
The review of the Prime Minister's carers strategy has involved a wide-ranging consultation of carers—both online—through an 'ideas tree', and through local and regional events. In addition, four deliberative events for 240 carers, including young carers, have enabled further discussion on the emerging themes from the consultation. Reports from the consultation and the deliberative events are being fed into the ‘Our NHS, our future’ Next Stage Review.
Confectionery
Mrs. James: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department is taking to ensure that supermarkets provide clear labelling of confectionery products containing liqueurs. [183478]
Dawn Primarolo: Food labelling rules agreed at European Union level and implemented nationally by the United Kingdom Food Labelling Regulations 1996 (as amended) already require food businesses, including supermarkets to clearly list ingredients on the labelling of pre-packed food. Therefore pre-packed confectionery products containing liqueurs would need to indicate the presence of alcohol.
Food law enforcement is the responsibility of local authority trading standards.
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