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8 Nov 2004 : Column 518W—continued
Correspondence
Sir Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when he will reply to the letter to him dated 1 September from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton, with regard to Pastor D. Lindsay. [195515]
Mr. Mullin: My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary replied on 29 October.
Sir Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when he will reply to the letter to him dated 23 August from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton, with regard to Ms Saira Ash. [195516]
Mr. Mullin: My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary replied on 29 October.
Custodial Sentences (Foreign Jails)
Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many British citizens are serving custodial sentences in foreign jails, broken down by country. [195802]
Mr. Mullin: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office does not collate the numbers of British Nationals serving custodial sentences overseas. Providing the hon. Member with the requested information could be provided only at disproportionate cost. We do, however, collate annual and quarterly figures for all British Nationals detained who have requested consular assistance, whether they are on remand or in custody. I refer the hon. Member to the replies I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Bury, North (Mr. Chaytor) on 13 May 2004, Official Report, columns 514–15W.
Departmental IT
Brian White: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what percentage of the Department's (a) implemented and (b) planned computer systems use open source software; and what plans are in place to raise this level. [195656]
Mr. Mullin: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) currently makes no significant use of open source software.
It is the FCO's practice to procure IT on the basis of best value for money. In doing this we are careful not to exclude open source solutions, but we have no specific objective to increase our use of open source software.
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Departmental Offices
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the cost of (a) decoration and (b) refurbishment of the London office of the Department was in each of the last four years. [196154]
Mr. Rammell: The cost of decoration and refurbishment of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's London offices (King Charles Street and the Old Admiralty Building) in each of the last four years is as follows:
| Decorations | Refurbishment | |
|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 100,368 | 70,000 |
| 2002 | 68,197 | 629,000 |
| 2003 | 74,342 | 583,000 |
| 2004 | 113,000 | 10,000 |
Eritrea/Ethiopia
Mr. Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps the Government have taken to ensure that Ethiopia (a) accepts the 2002 World Court ruling regarding its border dispute with Eritrea and (b) withdraws from the occupied town of Badme. [195825]
Mr. Mullin: The UK continues to press Ethiopia to accept the final and binding decision of the Boundary Commission. I raised this most recently with Prime Minister Meles in Addis Ababa on 26 October.
Mr. Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent discussions he has had with the governments involved in the Eritrean-Ethiopian border dispute. [195826]
Mr. Mullin: The UK discusses the Ethiopia-Eritrea border dispute with both parties on a regular basis. I raised the issue with Eritrean President Isaias in Asmara on 15 January and most recently with Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles in Addis Ababa on 26 October.
Mr. Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with the (a) UN, (b) EU and (c) African Union regarding the Eritrea-Ethiopia border dispute. [195827]
Mr. Mullin: The UK discusses the Ethiopia-Eritrea border dispute with the EU, UN and the African Union on a regular basis and is actively supporting their efforts to promote a lasting peace. I discussed the issue with UN Special Envoy Lloyd Axworthy in London on 3 November.
India (Brood Mares)
Mr. Spring: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he has discussed with the Indian Government restrictions on the importation of British brood mares into India. [194936]
Alun Michael:
I have been asked to reply.
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India is only prepared to import breeding horses from countries which have been free from contagious equine metritis (GEM) for at least three years. The UK cannot currently comply with this requirement which goes beyond the Office International des Epizooties (International Organisation for Animal Health) Terrestrial Animal Health Code guidelines on GEM. We have, on a number of occasions, pressed the Indian authorities to accept health assurances for breeding horses in line with OIE guidelines, but without success.
Iraq
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the answer of 26 October 2004, Official Report, column 1177W, on Iraq, what factors obstructed verification of the 45 minute claim between the start of the US-led administration in Iraq and the publication of (a) the Hutton report and (b) the Butler report. [195793]
Mr. Straw: The validation of human intelligence sources is described in Chapter 5.9 of Lord Butler's report. The report commended SIS for the thoroughness with which it had sought to validate these sources after the war. These matters have been examined during the course of the Butler Review and other inquiries, and covered during debates and statements on Iraq.
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the answer of 28 October, Official Report, column 1386W, on the Iraq Survey Group Report, whether the intelligence relating to the assertion in the September 2002 dossier that Iraq sought to procure uranium from Africa, which was not shared with the Iraq Survey Group, was shared with Lord Butler of Brockwell's Review Committee. [195967]
Mr. Straw: Yes, as was confirmed in paragraph 503 of Lord Butler's report.
Khartoum University
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the recent arrests of students at the University of Khartoum; and whether he has interceded on their behalf. [191122]
Mr. Mullin: In September five students from the University of Khartoum, and one from Port Sudan were arrested. All have now been released.
On 9 October, students at the University of Khartoum set fire to the Student Support Fund offices on the university campus in protest at perceived irregularities in the way the fund is run. Sudanese police announced that 37 arrests were made in connection to this incident. As of 11 October, 32 had been released and five were detained pending further investigations.
Our embassy in Khartoum regularly raises the detentions of students and activists with the Government of Sudan.
Overseas Parliaments (English Teaching)
Mr. David Atkinson:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what projects are
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undertaken by (a) British embassies and (b) the British Council to offer members of overseas parliaments free lessons to learn the English language; and if he will make a statement. [195707]
Mr. Mullin:
Neither the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), nor the British Council runs centrally-funded programmes to provide free English lessons
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to overseas parliamentarians. The British Council provides English language training on a repayment basis. Where this is sponsored by other organisations, including FCO posts, it may be free to participants, including parliamentarians. Although central records are not kept, and the following list may not be definitive, these projects have been carried out by the British Council on behalf of the sponsoring bodies indicated:
Parliamentarians may be nominated for Chevening Fellowships sponsored by the FCO. These courses include an optional opportunity for the Fellows to improve their English, which is free to participants.
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