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23 Feb 2010 : Column 420W—continued
These meetings have taken place in Algeria, Kuwait, Libya, Oman, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, USA and in the UK.
Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what criteria are used by the UK Trade and Investment Defence and Security Organisation to decide whether to assist UK private military and security companies to obtain business abroad. [316725]
Ian Lucas: I have been asked to reply.
Companies operating in the private military and security sector are entitled to the same support as other UK companies, in so far as their activities are legitimate and do not conflict with HMG's foreign policy goals. Eligibility for UKTI support is defined by the overall eligibility guidelines for UKTI trade services. Companies are not eligible for UKTI support if they are offering a product or service which it is illegal to produce or sell in the UK or in the target market, or which will breach export controls, or if the company's business record or business practices or products are likely to cause offence in the overseas market and/or embarrass the UK Government (for example, on corporate social responsibility grounds).
A copy of the Government 'Guidance on Contacts with Private Military and Security Companies' is in the Libraries of the House and in The National Archives, and is accessible using the following URL:
http://collections.europarchive.org/tna/20080205132101/www.fco.gov.uk/servlet/Front%3Fpagename=OpenMarket/Xcelerate/ShowPage&;c=Page&cid=1171453877033
Western Sahara: Asylum
Derek Conway: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with his Algerian counterpart on responsibility for the treatment of Sahrawi refugees on Algeria's territory; and if he will make a statement. [317280]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: While Foreign and Commonwealth Office Ministers and officials do discuss the Western Sahara dispute with their Algerian counterparts on a regular basis, these discussions always take place within the context of supporting the UN Secretary General and his Personal Envoy, Ambassador Christopher Ross, in their efforts to resolve the dispute.
Derek Conway: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with his Algerian counterpart on allowing exit visas for Sahrawi refugees in the Tindouf camps; and if he will make a statement. [317281]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary has not discussed Sahrawi exit visas with his Algerian counterpart. My hon. Friend the Member for Harlow (Bill Rammell), then Minister responsible for North Africa, did discuss UN-led efforts to resolve the dispute over Western Sahara with Abdelqader Mesahel, Algerian Minister responsible for Maghreb Affairs, during the annual UK-Algeria political dialogue in December 2008. The Western Sahara dispute is again on the agenda for the next round of the UK-Algeria political dialogue, which I will host on 2 March.
Derek Conway: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has made to the Algerian Government on the case of Mr. Sghair, a Sahrawi refugee, detained by the Polisario for three months for attempting to cross into Morocco; and if he will make a statement. [317282]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has not made any representations to the Algerian authorities about the case of Mr. Sghair, who was allegedly detained by the Polisario in 2008. The FCO has also not received any prior representations about this case.
Derek Conway: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with his Algerian counterpart on allowing entire families overland visits from the refugee camps in Tindouf; and if he will make a statement. [317283]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary has not discussed overland visits from the refugee camps with his Algerian counterpart. My hon. Friend the Member for Harlow (Bill Rammell), then Minister responsible for North Africa, did discuss UN- led efforts to resolve the dispute over Western Sahara with Abdelqader Mesahel, Algerian Minister responsible for Maghreb Affairs, during the annual UK-Algeria political dialogue in December 2008. The Western Sahara dispute is again on the agenda for the next round of the UK-Algeria political dialogue, which I will host on 2 March.
Derek Conway: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with (a) his Algerian counterpart and (b) the Polisario on a census to count and register the Sahrawi refugee population in the Tindouf camps; and if he will make a statement. [317284]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary has not had discussions with either his Algerian counterpart or the Polisario about a census to record the population of the Tindouf camps. Foreign and Commonwealth Office officials in Algiers and London have discussed this topic with the Polisario as part of their regular dialogue with all parties to the Western Sahara dispute.
My hon. Friend the Member for Harlow (Bill Rammell), then Minister responsible for North Africa, did discuss UN-led efforts to resolve the dispute over Western Sahara with Abdelqader Mesahel, Algerian Minister responsible for Maghreb Affairs, during the annual UK-Algeria political dialogue in December 2008. The Western Sahara dispute is again on the agenda for the next round of the UK-Algeria political dialogue, scheduled for 2 March.
Derek Conway: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with his Algerian counterpart on Algeria's obligations under the 1951 Convention on the Status of Refugees in relation to the Sahrawi refugee camps; and if he will make a statement. [317285]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary has not discussed the 1951 Convention on the Status of Refugees with his Algerian counterpart. My hon. Friend the Member for Harlow (Bill Rammell) then Minister responsible for North Africa, did discuss UN-led efforts to resolve the dispute over Western Sahara with Abdelqader Mesahel, Algerian Minister responsible for Maghreb Affairs, during the annual UK-Algeria political dialogue in December 2008. The Western Sahara dispute is again on the agenda for the next round of the UK-Algeria political dialogue, scheduled for 2 March.
Derek Conway: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with (a) his Algerian counterpart and (b) the Polisario on the United Nations High Commission on Refugees' confidence-building measures programme for the Sahrawi refugee population in the Tindouf camps; and if he will make a statement. [317286]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary has not had discussions with either his Algerian counterpart or the Polisario on the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) confidence-building measures programme. Foreign and Commonwealth Office officials in Algiers and London have discussed confidence-building measures with the Polisario as part of their regular dialogue with all parties to the Western Sahara dispute. The most recent discussions took place in February between the Polisario and Foreign and Commonwealth officials in London.
My hon. Friend the Member for Harlow (Bill Rammell), then Minister responsible for North Africa, did discuss UN-led efforts to resolve the dispute over Western Sahara with Abdelqader Mesahel, Algerian Minister responsible for Maghreb Affairs, during the annual UK-Algeria political dialogue in December 2008. The Western Sahara dispute is again on the agenda for the next round of the UK-Algeria political dialogue, scheduled for 2 March.
Derek Conway: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with the Ambassador of Algeria on conditions imposed by the Algerian Government and the Polisario on refugee camps in Tindouf; and if he will make a statement. [317287]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary has not discussed the conditions in the Tindouf refugee camps with the Algerian Ambassador. My hon. Friend Bill Rammell, then Minister responsible for North Africa, did discuss UN-led efforts to resolve the dispute over Western Sahara with Abdelqader Mesahel, Algerian Minister responsible for Maghreb Affairs, during the annual UK-Algeria political dialogue in December 2008. The Western Sahara dispute is again on the agenda for the next round of the UK-Algeria political dialogue, scheduled for 2 March 2010.
Derek Conway: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with the US Ambassador on the report of the United States Committee on Refugees and Immigrants on conditions imposed by Algeria and the Polisario on refugee camps in Tindouf; and if he will make a statement. [317288]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary has not discussed the United States Committee on Refugees and Immigrants report with the US ambassador. Our officials in Algiers have discussed the report with the US embassy in Algiers and the head of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, also in Algiers.
Derek Conway: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with his Algerian counterpart on permission for entire families to leave the Sahrawi refugee camps to travel to Mauritania; and if he will make a statement. [317289]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary has not discussed families travelling between Tindouf and Mauritania with his Algerian counterpart. My hon. Friend Bill Rammell, then Minister responsible for North Africa, did discuss UN-led efforts to resolve the dispute over Western Sahara with Abdelqader Mesahel, Algerian Minister responsible for Maghreb Affairs, during the annual UK-Algeria political dialogue in December 2008. The Western Sahara dispute is again on the agenda for the next round of the UK-Algeria political dialogue, scheduled for 2 March 2010.
Western Sahara: Politics and Government
Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will provide assistance to Morocco to seek to ensure that it receives UN recognition of its sovereignty over the Western Sahara. [317588]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The UK Government regard the status of the disputed non-self-governing territory of Western Sahara as undetermined, pending UN efforts to find a solution that provides for the self-determination of the people of Western Sahara. The UK Government fully support the efforts of Christopher Ross, the UN Secretary-General's Personal Envoy to Western Sahara.
Culture, Media and Sport
Departmental Advertising
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport which projects undertaken by his Department have incurred expenditure of more than £1,000 on advertising in the last 12 months; and what the respective spend is in each such case. [317566]
Mr. Sutcliffe [holding answer 22 February 2010]: In 2009, my Department spent more than £1,000 on advertising the public appointments listed:
| Public body and role | £ (VAT inclusive) |
|
Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment, Chair | |
Further to this, the Government Olympic Executive spent £5,551.96 in March 2009 advertising for a speech writer and £4,830.08 in September 2009 for a communications officer.
In October 2009, £4,242.61 was spent on advertising three human resources positions and £8,906.15 on two finance positions.
Departmental Internet
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the cost to his Department was of maintaining its media and social networking sites in the latest period for which figures are available. [315157]
Mr. Sutcliffe: In the current financial year, my Department has spent £1808.95 maintaining media and social networking sites which represents software maintenance costs for the complete year. We have no staff dedicated to maintaining media and social networking sites. Any content is provided by staff as part of their normal work.
C&binet, a not-for-profit conference for the global creative industries created by DCMS, had its own website, to generate interest for the conference and to provide a high quality interactive online experience for virtual delegates not attending the conference.
Between November 2008 and October 2009, £20,000 was spent on producing blog content (191 articles in total). This included (but was not restricted to) researching and identifying themes related to the c&binet agenda and tweeting (around 15 tweets per week). Also monitoring c&binet content pick up through Google and on other blogs.
Between November 2008 and October 2009 £3,000 was spent on hosting the entire c&binet website, of which the c&binet blog was one element.
Departmental Manpower
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many performance reviews were undertaken in respect of staff of (a) his Department and (b) its agency in each of the last five years; in how many cases performance was rated as unsatisfactory or below; how many staff left as a direct result of such a rating; and what percentage of full-time equivalent staff this represented. [313833]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The information is given in the table.
| 2008-09 | 2007-08 | 2006-07 | 2005-06 | 2004-05( 1) | |
| (1 )No information available. Note: No staff members have left as a direct result of the rating received from their performance review, in the period for which the figures are available. | |||||
Departmental Responsibilities
Stewart Hosie: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many meetings Ministers and officials in his Department have had with members of the public in the last three years. [317077]
Mr. Sutcliffe: Ministers and officials hold many meetings with members of the public as part of the process of policy development.
To collate the number of meetings held by members of this Department over the past three years would incur disproportionate costs.
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