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Employment (Northumberland)
Mr. Ronnie Campbell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many males aged 50 to 65 years were in full-time employment in Northumberland in each of the last three years; and what percentage this was in each year of all males in that age group in that area. [24034]
Mrs. Liddell: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Chief Executive of the Office for National Statistics. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from Tim Holt to Mr. Ronnie Campbell, dated 21 January 1998:
The Chancellor of the Exchequer has asked me to reply, as Director of the Office for National Statistics, to your recent question on men aged 50-65 working full time in Northumberland.
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The figures are shown in the table below. Please note that the analysis is based on men aged 50-64. Sixty five year olds have been excluded because they are above the minimum state retirement age for men.
| Working full-time | Working full-time as | |
|---|---|---|
| Spring to winter of each year | (000s) | percentage of all aged 50-64 |
| 1994 | 11 | 46 |
| 1995 | 13 | 51 |
| 1996(11) | 14 | 57 |
Notes:
(10) Full-time is based on the respondent's self assessment.
(11) Provisional.
Source:
ONS, Labour Force Survey.
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Women Earners
Mrs. Ballard: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the number of women of child-bearing age in the United Kingdom who earn more than (a) £100,000 and (b) £1 million annually. [23792]
Mrs. Liddell: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Chief Executive of the Office for National Statistics. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from Tim Holt to Mrs. Jackie Ballard, dated 21 January 1998:
The Chancellor of the Exchequer has asked me to reply, as the Director of the Office for National Statistics, to your recent question on number of child-bearing age women by annual earnings.
For the purposes of this response, I have taken child-bearing age as 15-44 years. The number of women in this range earning more than £100,000 per annum is too small to allow a precise estimate from statistical sources. The New Earnings Survey for April 1997 collects information on female employees and these data suggest that the number is unlikely to exceed 1500, and is likely to be much less. I cannot be more precise. Also, I cannot provide an estimate for the self-employed, nor for earnings in excess of £1 million per annum.
FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS
Overseas Visits
Mr. Wilshire: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list all overseas visits made since 1 May 1997 on which he or any other Minister in his Department has been accompanied under Rule 83 of the Ministerial Code, indicating (a) who accompanied him or her, (b) the cost to public funds of each such visit. [23256]
Mr. Robin Cook [holding answer 15 January 1998]: The rules and practice on foreign travel by Ministers have not changed and are the same as those followed under the previous Administration.
I was accompanied to Hong Kong for the handover from 27 June to 1 July by my wife at a cost to public funds of £2,901.
I was accompanied to Dublin on 3 November by my partner, Ms Gaynor Regan. There was no cost to public funds.
My hon. Friend the Member for Newcastle upon Tyne, North (Mr. Henderson) was accompanied by his partner, Miss Geraldine Daly, to Luxembourg from 25-26 October at a cost to public funds of £571.24.
My hon. Friend the Member for Leeds, Central (Mr. Fatchett) was accompanied by Mrs. Fatchett to Australasia and the Pacific from 12-22 September at a cost to public funds of £7,558.
Mr. Wilshire:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list each overseas journey he has made at public expense since 1 May 1997 and indicate the date, purpose and cost of each journey. [24133]
Mr. Robin Cook:
For details of my overseas visits undertaken during the period 1 May to 10 November 1997, I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the
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hon. Member for Gordon (Mr. Bruce) on 11 November 1997, Official Report, column 502-04. My visits overseas since then are listed in the following table:
| Date | Venue | Purpose of visit | Total cost (£) |
|---|---|---|---|
| November | |||
| 19-20 | Geneva | P4 Meeting on Iraq | |
| 20-21 | Luxembourg | Extraordinary European Council Meeting on Employment | 35,140.15 |
| 24 | Brussels | General Affairs Council | 6,216.00 |
| 25-28 | Budapest Prague Warsaw | Bilateral | 45,694.00 |
| December | |||
| 7-8 | Brussels | General Affairs Council | 2,019.93 |
| 8-10 | Bonn | Peace Implementation Conference | 8,613.20 |
| 11-13 | Luxembourg | European Council | 30,000.00 |
| 16-17 | Brussels | NAC Ministerial and Related Meetings | 11,895.09 |
| January | |||
| 14 | Strasbourg | European Parliament | 9,478.09 |
| 15-17 | Washington Ottawa | Bilateral and EU Presidency | (12)50,000.00 |
| 18-21 | Hong Kong China | Bilateral | (12)100,000.00 |
(12) Estimate only.
Schengen Agreement
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when he was informed that procedures for joining the Schengen Agreement under the Treaty of Amsterdam would be subject to unanimity. [24054]
Mr. Doug Henderson: We learnt of the change to the text when we received the revised Treaty text (CONF 4001/ 97) on 19 June.
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the conclusions of the investigations by the presidency of the European Council on the circumstances surrounding the negotiations at Amsterdam, pertaining to voting procedures used in the admission of states to the Schengen area. [24052]
Mr. Doug Henderson: The Presidency's view was that the treaty text (CONF 4001/ 97) was an accurate reflection of discussions at the Amsterdam Summit. This text was deposited in the Libraries of the House at the time of receipt.
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when the negotiations at Amsterdam, pertaining to the voting procedures used in the admission of states to the Schengen area, have been raised (a) at the Council of Ministers and (b) bilaterally; and by whom. [24055]
Mr. Doug Henderson:
This issue was raised at all levels on a number of occasions following the Amsterdam Summit, including in several bilateral exchanges with other Member States, in particular the Presidency.
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Mr. Hancock:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has received in favour of the placing of BBC World Service programmes on the Internet. [24051]
Mr. Fatchett:
Some World Service output is already available on the Internet. In collaboration with BBC News, the World Service has launched an online news service in English, and is developing other online news services in Arabic, Mandarin, Russian and Spanish. In addition, World Service programmes can now be heard live in English, Spanish and German as a result of various rebroadcasting agreements.
Mr. David Atkinson:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on his Minister's recent visit to Algeria on behalf of the European Union; and what new initiatives he proposes. [24477]
Mr. Fatchett:
The European Union (EU) Troika visited Algeria on 19 and 20 January in order to open up the current political dialogue between the EU and the Algerian Government; to provide a public demonstration of the European people's sympathy for the suffering of their neighbours in Algeria; to emphasise the EU's condemnation of terrorism and to improve our understanding of the situation in Algeria. The mission made progress in achieving those objectives.
Foreign Minister Attaf agreed in principle to accept my invitation to visit the UK during our Presidency to continue the dialogue. The Troika urged the Algerian Government to be open about the situation in Algeria, and in particular to allow an early visit from the UN Special Rapporteurs. It was disappointing that the Algerian Government have so far been unable to agree to the latter. We agreed with the Algerian Government to increase the number of parliamentary exchanges. The EU's offer of humanitarian assistance to the Algerian people was not taken up but remains on the table. I will also be reporting to the General Affairs Council who will consider further how the EU might help Algeria.
Ann Clwyd:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has made to the Algerian government to accept initiatives of the international community to end human rights abuses in Algeria. [24442]
Mr. Fatchett:
My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary urged Mr. Attaf, the Algerian Foreign Minister, to accept a visit by UN Special Rapporteurs when they spoke on the telephone on 16 January. During the EU Troika mission to Algiers on 20 January, I reinforced that message with Mr. Attaf and Prime Minister Ouyahia.
Ann Clwyd:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what advice his Department is giving to the Home Office about the human rights situation in Algeria in relation to people seeking asylum from that country. [24444]
Mr. Fatchett:
The Home Office is familiar with the human rights situation in Algeria and seeks FCO advice in relation to specific circumstances that affect asylum
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applications. That advice covers the internal security situation in particular areas and any threat to particular sectors of society.
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