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24 Jun 2009 : Column 970W—continued
Turks and Caicos Islands
Mr. Keith Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when he expects the final report of the Commission of Inquiry on the Turks and Caicos Islands to be published; what timetable he has set for responding to that report; and if he will make a statement. [281905]
Chris Bryant: I hope to make a statement to the House on the Commission of Inquiry’s final report shortly, explaining when the Governor intends to publish the report and the action necessary.
Uganda: Armed Conflict
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent reports he has received on progress on peace negotiations between the Lord’s Resistance Army and the government of Uganda. [281354]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The Government of Uganda and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) agreed a peace settlement, the Final Peace Agreement (FPA), in April 2008 after almost two years of negotiations mediated by the Government of Southern Sudan. The leader of the LRA, Joseph Kony, refused to sign the FPA, most recently in November 2008, in the absence of a guarantee of immunity from prosecution at the International Criminal Court. LRA activity in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Southern Sudan, including abductions and attacks on civilians, have continued in the interim.
The Governments of Uganda, the DRC and the Government of Southern Sudan began joint military action against the LRA in December 2008. The Government of Uganda has stated that it remains
committed to the FPA but is not prepared to re-open negotiation of the terms of the agreement with the LRA. There are no negotiations currently in train.
Zimbabwe
Mr. Keith Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent discussions he has had with representatives of Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries on the political situation in Zimbabwe; and what assessment he has made of the proposal to convene a SADC extraordinary summit to discuss the matter. [280635]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary last discussed Zimbabwe with his then South African counterpart, Mrs. Dlamini-Zuma, at a meeting in London on 6 March 2009. My noble Friend, the Minister for Africa, Asia and the UN, Lord Malloch-Brown is in regular contact with Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries on Zimbabwe, most recently in the margins of the World Economic Forum meeting in Cape Town on 11 June 2009.
SADC, as a guarantor of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) conducted as the Inclusive Government was formed, has a key role to play in ensuring compliance with its provisions. How to respond to any specific appeal that it may have received from the Movement for Democratic Change is clearly a matter for SADC itself, though we would hope that it would do so resolutely.
Electoral Commission Committee
Postal Votes
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission what assessment the Electoral Commission has made of the merits of the use of a standard form of ballot paper for postal voting in elections. [282085]
Mr. Streeter: The Electoral Commission informs me that it is currently developing a set of UK-wide standards on the accessibility, design and usability of ballot papers and associated stationery including postal voting materials. The Commission will publish its standards in autumn 2009.
Postal Votes: Lancashire
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission what information the Electoral Commission holds on the proportion of postal votes spoiled in each ward in Lancashire County Council in the 2009 county council elections. [282084]
Mr. Streeter: The Electoral Commission informs me that it is not possible to provide information about the proportion of postal votes which are spoiled, because ballot papers which have been returned by post are mixed with ballot papers from polling stations before they are counted.
The table provides information on the proportion of ballot papers counted in each division of Lancashire county council at the 2009 elections which were deemed to have been spoiled. Returning officers are not required to report information about the proportion of returned postal votes which were rejected because of a missing or incomplete postal voting statement until 25 days after polling day. The Commission will include an analysis of rejected postal votes in its report on the June 2009 elections in October 2009.
| Division | Proportion (percentage) |
Cabinet Office
Cancer
John Howell: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many cases of cancer have been diagnosed in (a) England and (b) each ward of Henley constituency in each year since 2000. [281174]
Angela E. Smith: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated June 2009:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking how many cases of cancer have been diagnosed in (a) England and (b) each ward of Henley constituency in each year since 2000 [281174].
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