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Our presence in Afghanistan is at the request of the democratically elected Afghan Government. Alongside 39 other nations as part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation-led International Security Assistance Force, we are there to support the Afghan Government in delivering greater economic development to improve the lives of the Afghan people and to ensure Afghanistan is never again a haven for terrorism and narcotics production, which threaten not only Afghanistan but the world. We are taking a comprehensive approach towards Afghanistan. Our Armed Forces, along with diplomats and officials, are in Afghanistan as part of this co-ordinated effort to support the Afghan Government in building the necessary institutions to manage their own security and development. This is a long-term commitment.
Afghanistan: Poppy Crop
Lord Rowe-Beddoe asked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether the anticipated receipts to the Afghan farming community for its production of the poppy crop in the 2008 calendar year are more or less than the United Kingdom defence budget allocated to support United Kingdom military operations in Afghanistan for the same period. [HL4913]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence (Baroness Taylor of Bolton): We do not allocate funds specifically to support operations in Afghanistan, as the net additional costs are recovered from the Treasury reserve. The figure for 2007-08 was £1.5 billion.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime estimates that the total export value of opiates produced in and trafficked from Afghanistan in 2007 was about $4 billion. The vast majority of profits from the opium trade go to drug traffickers rather than the farmers, and most of the traffickers’ profits go outside the country.
Arabic
Lord Hanningfield asked Her Majesty's Government:
How many speakers of Arabic are employed in the United Kingdom by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and what percentage of total Foreign and Commonwealth Office employees this represents. [HL4775]
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The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Lord Malloch-Brown): The number of UK-based Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) officers with an Arabic qualification employed in the UK is 116. This is 1.97 per cent of the FCO workforce. The total number of UK-based FCO officers with an Arabic qualification is 267, 4.53 per cent of the FCO workforce.
Armed Forces: Complex Weapons
Lord Astor of Hever asked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to the Written Statement by Baroness Taylor of Bolton on 15 July (WS 58) on complex weapons, what work has been undertaken on the project for an Indirect Fire Precision Attack Loitering Munition; what relevant contracts have been entered into; and what is the cost to public funds to date of work on that project; and [HL5035]
Further to the Written Statement by Baroness Taylor of Bolton on 15 July (WS 58) on complex weapons, what work has been undertaken on the project for a Future Air-to-Surface Guided Weapon; what relevant contracts have been entered into; and what is the cost to public funds to date of work on that project; and [HL5036]
Further to the Written Statement by Baroness Taylor of Bolton on 15 July (WS 58) on complex weapons, what work has been undertaken on the project for Selected Precision Effects at Range; what relevant contracts have been entered into; and what is the cost to public funds to date of work on that project; and [HL5037]
Further to the Written Statement by Baroness Taylor of Bolton on 15 July (WS 58) on complex weapons, what work has been undertaken on the project for a Storm Shadow Capability Enhancement programme; what relevant contracts have been entered into; and what is the cost to public funds to date of work on that project; and [HL5038]
Further to the Written Statement by Baroness Taylor of Bolton on 15 July (WS 58) on complex weapons, what work has been undertaken on the project for Future Local Area Air Defence Systems; what relevant contracts have been entered into; and what is the cost to public funds to date of work on that project. [HL5039]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence (Baroness Taylor of Bolton): Two enabling contracts have been placed to undertake the work associated with the assessment phase (AP) for complex weapons, announced on 15 July 2008. One of these contracts has been placed with MBDA (UK) Ltd and covers work on the Indirect Fire Precision Attack Loitering Munition (IFPA LM), Future Air-to-Surface Guided Weapon (Heavy) (FASGWH), Selected Precision Effects at Range (SPEAR), Future Local Area Air Defence System (FLAADS), and Storm Shadow Capability Enhancement (SSCEP) programmes.
The second enabling contract has been placed with Thales UK for work on the Future Air to Surface Guided Weapon (Light) (FASGWL) programme. These two contracts are linked through a further contract,
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The work associated with these AP enabling contracts builds on the early studies and technology development, and includes elements from continuing detailed concept work to understand and develop system solutions to development activity for those system proposals which are more advanced.
The Team CW approach is based on using funding across the six projects flexibly, by treating them as a single programme. The value of the first payment against these contracts is some £17 million. MoD expenditure on the earlier concept phase and research activity against these five military requirements has amounted to some £25 million.
Bahrain: Human Rights
Lord Avebury asked Her Majesty's Government:
What discussions they have had with other European Union Governments about attending the court proceedings in Bahrain against human rights defenders, identified by Front Line and Human Rights Watch, in accordance with the European Union guidelines on human rights defenders; and whether they will publish the conclusions reached as a result of these observations.[HL4794]
The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Lord Malloch-Brown): We take every opportunity, often working with our EU partners, to urge states to pursue laws and practices which foster tolerance and mutual respect. In certain cases, the EU presidency may consider issuing a démarche on behalf of member states.
We have had no discussions with third-party Governments about any court proceedings in Bahrain, nor do we attend court proceedings in Bahrain other than those involving British citizens. Our embassy in Manama monitors developments and frequently discusses the detention of possible human rights defenders with the Bahraini Ministry of Interior. The UK also continues to emphasise the importance of adherence to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which Bahrain has ratified.
Belfast Agreement: Ethnicity
Lord Laird asked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to the Written Answer by Lord Rooker on 19 June (WA 175) concerning the meaning of “ethnicity”, how they defined the word when included in the Belfast agreement of 1998. [HL4665]
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Lord Rooker: No definition of “ethnicity” was included in the Belfast agreement. The agreement was given effect in UK domestic law primarily by the Northern Ireland Act 1998, in which the term “racial group” is used. As explained in my previous Answer of 13 May 2008 (Official Report, col. WA 119), Section 75(5) of that Act defines “racial group” as having the same meaning as in the Race Relations (Northern Ireland) Order 1997.
Bloody Sunday: Saville Inquiry
Lord Laird asked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to the Written Answer by Lord Rooker on 1 July (WA 26), in what circumstances an apology is offered when information is incorrectly published; and [HL4736]
Further to the Written Answer by Lord Rooker on 1 July (WA 26) concerning a Secretary of State giving incorrect information about the cost of the Saville inquiry, why they will not issue an apology. [HL4777]
Lord Rooker: Decisions on whether to offer apologies for any errors will generally be taken on a case-by-case basis.
As explained in my Written Answer to the noble Lord of 30 April 2008 (Official Report, col. WA 24), the incorrect information about the cost of the Bloody Sunday inquiry was corrected on 20 July 2006. We apologise for any confusion caused.
British Overseas Territories
Lord Avebury asked Her Majesty's Government:
Why a posting appeared on the website of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on 5 July quoting Ms Meg Munn MP as responding to the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee report on Britain’s Overseas Territories, when that report had yet to be published. [HL4712]
The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Lord Malloch-Brown): Through a combination of technical and human error, a press notice embargoed until 00.01 on 6 July was inadvertently published on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office website some nine hours ahead of its embargo. We have reviewed our procedures to ensure this incident is not repeated. I regret the error, and my honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Meg Munn, has written to the chairman of the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee to apologise.
British-Irish Intergovernmental Secretariat
Lord Laird asked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to the Written Answer by Lord Rooker on 21 July 2008 (WA 199) concerning the British-Irish Intergovernmental Secretariat, on what basis a decision was taken on what is meant by “mutual interest”; and by whom. [HL5193]
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Lord Rooker: I refer the noble Lord to my Answer given on 21 July, Official Report, col. WA 199.
Census
Lord Laird asked Her Majesty’s Government:
What are the figures by category for each of the national identity and religion questions in the 13 May 2007 England and Wales test census. [HL4818]
Lord Davies of Oldham: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, National Statistician, to Lord Laird, dated July 2008.
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent Question asking for the figures by category for each of the national identity and religion questions in the 13 May 2007 England and Wales census test [HL4818].
The 2007 census test was a voluntary test carried out among 100,000 households in five local authorities, Bath and North East Somerset, Camden, Carmarthenshire, Liverpool and Stoke-on-Trent. The aims of the test were to:
compare the effectiveness of hand delivery and post-out of questionnaires;assess the outsourcing of the recruitment, training and pay for the field force;assess the impact on response of the inclusion of an income question; andassess the quality of available address information.The detailed responses to the questions included on the test questionnaires will, as in previous tests, be used only to evaluate the outcomes of the test in order to inform the final design of the 2011 census. We are not planning to release details of the responses to particular questions since these will have little statistical value for the following reasons:
the test covered only selected areas within the five local authorities, which were chosen primarily for field administrative purposes;response to the test was voluntary and varied considerably from area to area, with an overall return rate of 46 per cent;no adjustment for non-response bias has been made;no analysis of the multi-tick responses has yet been carried out; andno output processing measures to protect statistical confidentiality have been applied.The results of the test are still being evaluated, and the reports of the evaluation, due for publication later this summer, will include some analysis of questionnaire responses, but only in so far as they address the objectives of the test.
Lord Laird asked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they will consider a breakdown of the question on religion in the 2011 England and Wales census. [HL4850]
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Lord Davies of Oldham: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, National Statistician, to Lord Laird, dated July 2008.
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent Question asking for consideration of a breakdown of the question on religion in the 2011 England and Wales census [HL4850].
It is proposed that there will be a breakdown of the question on religion in the 2011 census similar to that of the question asked in the 2001 census.
Final decisions on the content of the 2011 census will not be made until the programme of consultation and question-testing is complete and formal approval is given by Parliament in 2010. A White Paper setting out the proposals for the 2011 census, including the wording of any religion question, is scheduled to be published towards the end of 2008.
Children: Secure Training Centres
Baroness Morris of Bolton asked Her Majesty's Government:
How many professional visits by (a) local authority social workers, (b) youth offending team workers, (c) counsellors and therapists, (d) lawyers, (e) independent advocates, (f) Youth Justice Board monitors, and (g) Ofsted inspectors to children detained in secure training centres in the last 12 months were held in private. [HL5081]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Children, Schools and Families (Lord Adonis): The Youth Justice Board does not collate statistics on this issue, but the board informs me that, in most cases, professional visits are held privately in rooms specifically designated for this purpose. Custody officers are positioned outside the room. Occasionally—if, for example, the professional has concerns about meeting the young person alone—the director of the centre may arrange for a suitable member of staff also to attend the meeting. Such an arrangement would be planned and agreed in advance.
Common Agricultural Policy
Lord Pearson of Rannoch asked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to the Written Answer by Lord Rooker on 14 July (WA 107), whether they will commission research to estimate the annual number of (a) children and (b) adults in the developing world who may be dying from malnutrition-related illnesses which could be linked to the Common Agricultural Policy. [HL5182]
The Minister of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Rooker): Our 2005 common agricultural policy (CAP) vision is clear that securing further trade reform in the WTO, particularly of
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