| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
27 Mar 2009 : Column 801W—continued
Colombia: Military Aid
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the answers of 25 November 2008, Official Report, columns 1195-6W and 12 January 2009, Official Report, column 358W, on Colombia: armed forces, for what reason the per capita cost of providing training to members of the Colombian armed forces decreased between 2006-07 and 2007-08. [265158]
Gillian Merron: An increased number of individuals attended training workshops in 2007-08, which decreased the per capita cost, but not the overall cost, of this training. The cost of our bi-lateral human rights and demining programmes with the Colombian armed forces covers flights, expenses and administration costs of the UK trainers involved.
Cuba: Political Prisoners
John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports he has received of the number of people convicted of the crime of social dangerousness in Cuba in each of the last five years. [265458]
Gillian Merron: We are very concerned about the use of charges of "social dangerousness" in Cuba to arrest those whom the Cuban authorities believe may cause a crime in the future.
During Cuba's review at the Human Rights Council in February 2009, the UK recommended that Cuba refrain from using such laws to restrict the rights of freedom of expression and association.
The Cuban government does not publish statistics on the number of people convicted on these grounds, but the non-governmental Cuban commission for human rights and national reconciliation, estimates that there are currently between 3,000 and 5,000 people in prison in Cuba convicted of “pre-criminal social dangerousness.”
Our embassy in Havana has requested these figures from the Cuban authorities and I will write if we receive a reply.
Departmental Billing
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what percentage of invoices from suppliers his Department has settled within 10 days of receipt in the last four months. [266244]
Gillian Merron [holding answer 24 March 2009]: The percentage of invoices settled within-10 days in each of the last four months is:
| Percentage | |
These figures measure payments made in the UK. Identifying these figures from overseas missions would mean disproportionate cost.
Departmental Electricity Generation
Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what (a) capital and (b) maintenance expenditure his Department has incurred on standby diesel generators for back-up electricity supply of his Department's estate in each year since March 1997. [266409]
Gillian Merron [holding answer 25 March 2009]: Budgets for capital and maintenance expenditure are devolved to Foreign and Commonwealth missions overseas.
The information is not held centrally and it is not possible to obtain an answer without incurring disproportionate cost.
Departmental Empty Property
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what estimate he has made of the change in the annual cost to his Department of maintaining the empty public buildings owned by his Department as a result of the April 2008 changes to empty property rate relief. [267132]
Gillian Merron: None. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has no empty, owned, public buildings on its UK Estate.
Departmental Public Expenditure
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how much capital spending is planned to be brought forward by his Department to (a) 2008-09 and (b) 2009-10. [266293]
Gillian Merron: The information is as follows.
(a) The FCO does not plan to bring forward any expenditure to 2008-09.
(b) The FCO does not plan to bring forward any expenditure to 2009-10.
Departmental Recruitment
Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the answer of 5 March 2009, Official Report, column 1746W, on departmental recruitment, what estimate he has made of the annual salary cost of (a) permanent, (b) temporary and (c) agency staff recruited by his Department in each year since 2005-06. [264299]
Gillian Merron: The information requested is as follows:
(a) (i) The estimated annual salary costs for permanent staff recruited by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) , including staff recruited on fixed term contracts of employment of one year or more, in each of the last four financial years is as follows:
| £ million | |
These are not the actual pay costs of the staff recruited but have been calculated using the numbers recruited given in the answer of 5 March 2009, Official Report, column 1746W, and the average salary, employers national insurance and employers pension contribution rates for the relevant financial years.
(a) (ii) The annual salary costs for permanent staff recruited by FCO Services, including staff recruited on fixed term contracts of employment of one year or more, in each of the last four financial years is as follows:
| £ million | |
These costs have been calculated on the same basis as at (a) (i).
(b) It is difficult to identify the individual costs of temporary staff, who may work irregular hours, and this could be done only at disproportionate cost. The total FCO costs for temporary staff, including those recruited in-year and reported in the answer of 5 March 2009, Official Report, column 1746W, for the four financial years were:
| £ million | |
The figure for 2008-09 is projected using the expenditure for the first three quarters.
(c) Total FCO costs for agency staff in the four financial years were:
| £ million | |
The figure for 2008-09 is projected using the expenditure for the first three quarters.
Departmental Standards
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what estimate he has made of the cost to his Department of measuring compliance with its targets under its public service agreements in the last 12 months for which figures are available. [266566]
Gillian Merron: Measuring compliance is an integral part of delivering the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's (FCO) targets under Public Service Agreement (PSA) 30 "Reduce the impact of conflicts globally". Responsibility for measuring lies with the FCO's Conflict Group supported by the Finance Directorate. We currently estimate this to be a proportion of the time of three members of staff.
The FCO contributes but does not lead on any other PSAs, and therefore does not measure compliance on any other PSA targets.
Drugs
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what joint UK/USA initiatives are in place to tackle the production and distribution of drugs. [266890]
Bill Rammell: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office works closely with our partners in government to contribute to the delivery of the Government counter narcotics objectives. Within Whitehall the lead for international drugs policy rests with the Home Office.
The UK is in direct and regular political, diplomatic and law enforcement contact with the relevant US authorities in London, Washington and other key locations such as Colombia and Afghanistan. UK and US law enforcement officers work alongside each other in drug producing and transit countries to disrupt production and trafficking. More specifically as part of our co-operation to tackle the illicit drugs trade in Afghanistan, with the US we have jointly established both the Joint Narcotics Analysis Centre and the Inter-agency Operations Coordination Centre to improve law enforcement co-ordination mechanisms.
Electoral Register
Mr. Dunne: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many leaflets promoting overseas voter registration were sent to each British mission overseas in the last 12 months. [265964]
Gillian Merron:
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office's ‘Going to live abroad’ leaflet provides information on overseas voter registration. 7,953 of these leaflets
were distributed in the last 12 months to the following diplomatic missions overseas:
Accra (100)
Addis Ababa (50)
Alicante (100)
Almaty (40)
Ankara (500)
Athens (400)
Bangkok (300)
Banjul (50)
Beirut (250)
Belmopan (50)
Boston (50)
Brisbane (150)
Budapest (40)
Cape Town (50)
Caracas (50)
Chennai (25)
Dubai (100)
Goa (100)
Ho Chin Minh (100)
Hong Kong (50)
Jakarta (300)
Kampala (50)
Karachi (20)
Kyiv (100)
Kigali (200)
Kolkata (25)
La Paz (50)
Las Palmas (20)
Lille (50)
Luanda (10)
Lyon (10)
Manila (300)
Madrid (60)
Malaga (250)
Montenegro (500)
Montevideo (100)
Moscow (300)
Mumbai (50)
Munich (10)
Muscat (100)
New Delhi (25)
New York (50)
Panama City (250)
Palma (200)
Perth (100)
Phnom Penh (40)
Port Louis (50)
Port Moresby (200)
Pretoria (100)
Rome (250)
Sarajevo (5)
Stockholm (30)
Suva (200)
Tashkent (20).
In addition to this, 6,350 Electoral Commission ‘Overseas Voters’ leaflets were sent to the following diplomatic missions overseas:
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |