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Transport for London
Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if the procedures set out by the Nolan Committee in respect of public appointments have been observed with regard to the appointment of the Director of Transport for London; and if he will make a statement. [125455]
Mr. Hill: Mr. Anthony Mayer was appointed as a Transitional Chief Executive of Transport for London in February this year. This was not an appointment to a public body within the ambit of the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments but an appointment as an employee of the Secretary of State under the provisions of Section 407 of the Greater London Authority Act 1999. Nevertheless, the recruitment followed a search and selection process involving the use of head hunters and an independent element. This is a temporary appointment. The recruitment of a permanent Chief Executive will be a matter for Transport for London.
Parliamentary Questions
Mr. Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions when he will answer the question tabled by the hon. Member for East Worthing and Shoreham for answer on 17 March on the cost to public funds of publicly owned property maintained for his private use. [125685]
Ms Beverley Hughes: I replied to the hon. Member on Friday 9 June 2000, Official Report, column 4192W.
Dorneywood
Mr. Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions (1) what has been the cost of official entertainment at Dorneywood to his Department's budget in each year since May 1997; [125679]
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- (2) if he will list the occasions on which Dorneywood has been used for official purposes since 1 May 1997, listing the guests who attended on each occasion; [125678]
(3) how many staff paid out of his Department's budget have been employed at Dorneywood since May 1997. [125684]
Ms Beverley Hughes: Under the terms of the endowment providing for its use by successive Governments since the 1950s, Dorneywood is maintained at no cost to the taxpayer. The same arrangement applies now as under previous administrations: no staff from any Government Department are employed at Dorneywood, and Government Ministers pay their own personal expenses on items such as food and drink when visiting Dorneywood privately.
When Ministers from my Department use Dorneywood for official Government business, expenses are paid by the Department. Since May 1997, Dorneywood has been used for meetings with a range of Ministers and officials on a number of occasions. The approximate total cost to the Department for each year since May 1997 was as follows:
| Year | £ |
|---|---|
| May 1997-March 1998 | 3,000 |
| April 1998-March 1999 | 2,000 |
| April 1999-March 2000 | 1,300 |
FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS
Treaty of Nice
Mr. Woodward: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what bilateral discussions with other EU members are planned prior to the meeting to agree the Treaty of Nice in December. [124792]
Mr. Vaz: We are in constant contact with our European partners. On the IGC in particular, there has been regular contact at official and Ministerial level since the beginning of this year. Foreign and Europe Ministers discuss the IGC collectively at monthly meetings of the General Affairs Council. This will continue until the Nice European Council in December.
Sierra Leone
Mr. Mackinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many Sierra Leone citizens have had their fares paid to Britain by his Department since the entry of the Parachute Regiment into Sierra Leone; how many of these cases relate to asylum applications; what the circumstances were of the others; and how many were arranged on the initiative of the United Kingdom High Commission. [124836]
Mr. Hain [holding answer 7 June 2000]: All British and Sierra Leonean passport holders evacuated from Sierra Leone undertook to repay the costs of their RAF flights from Freetown to Dakar. Consular staff in Dakar provided financial assistance to enable 55 Sierra Leonean nationals, all of whom either had close family in the UK
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or held resident status, to return to the UK. They all signed undertakings to repay the costs. As far as we know none of these has applied for asylum.
Mr. Keetch: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what medical advice his Department is giving to UK visitors to Sierra Leone; and if he will make a statement. [125192]
Mr. Hain [holding answer 9 June 2000]: Our travel advice gives advice on safety and security to British nationals travelling overseas. Unless there are specific concerns, travel advice does not cover medical issues. Callers requesting medical advice are referred to their GPs or the Department of Health.
At present we advise against all travel to Sierra Leone.
Kosovo (MOD Police)
Mr. Key: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs for what reason his Department's police officers were disembarked from their aircraft on the tarmac at Stansted on 4 June, instead of flying to Kosovo; when the detachment will now fly to Pristina; and if he will make a statement. [124936]
Mr. Hain: It is usually the responsibility of the United Nations to finance and arrange the transport for civilian police officers deploying to Kosovo. On this occasion, the UN requested that the UK make the travel arrangements.
The FCO therefore arranged to charter a plane for 4 June to transport the 56 Ministry of Defence police officers to Kosovo. However, delays in baggage handling and a minor technical fault resulted in the plane's revised estimated arrival time in Pristina being after 17:00 hours, the time at which Pristina airport closes.
The police officers' departure was therefore re-arranged for 6 June (no aircraft were available on 5 June) on a different plane. I can confirm that the officers did indeed reach Kosovo on that day.
No-smoking Policy
Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on (a) the effectiveness of his Department's no-smoking policy and (b) the proportion of his Department's offices that do not allow smoking. [125154]
Mr. Hain: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office's Smoking Policy restricts smoking to designated smoking rooms and single occupancy offices. It is therefore effective in protecting all staff from the responsibility of passive smoking.
Fewer than 5 per cent. of offices are single occupancy.
International Criminal Court
Mr. Blizzard: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when he proposes to ratify the Rome Treaty to establish the International Criminal Court. [125395]
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Mr. Hain: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Clydebank and Milngavie (Mr. Worthington) on 3 May 2000, Official Report, column 122W.
EU Intergovernmental Conference
Mr. Spring: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (1) if he will place in the Library a copy of the Government's response to the questions in the document CONFER 4743/00, prepared by the Conference of the Representatives of the Governments of the member states for the intergovernmental conference; [124864]
- (2) if he will place in the Library a copy of the Government's response to the options for determining the method for fixing the allocation of seats in the European Parliament, as set out in document CONFER 4740/00, prepared by the Conference of the Representatives of the Governments of the member states for the intergovernmental conference; [124866]
(3) if he will place in the Library a copy of the Government's response to the suggested approach to the extension of co-decision procedures, set out in document CONFER 4740/00, prepared by the Conference of the Representatives of the Governments of the member states for the intergovernmental conference; [124865]
(4) in which areas the UK delegation has objected in principle to specific points in relation to the list of Articles suggested for an extension of qualified majority voting in Annex I of paper CONFER 4757/00, prepared for the intergovernmental conference; [124867]
(5) if he will place in the Library a copy of the UK delegation's response to the questions asked in the document CONFER 4728/00, prepared by the Conference of the Representatives of the Governments of the member states for the intergovernmental conference. [124869]
Mr. Vaz: Discussion at the level of the Preparatory Group and at Ministerial level has been based on conference papers produced by the Presidency. These papers do not require a formal response from member states' Governments, but form a basis for discussion. The Government's approach to the issues raised in these discussions is set out in the White Paper "IGC: Reform for Enlargement".
Mr. Spring: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will place in the Library a copy of the Government's response to the options for (a) the Economic and Social Committee and (b) the Committee of the Regions, set out in document CONFER 4741/00, prepared by the Conference of the Representatives of the Governments of the member states for the intergovernmental conference. [124868]
Mr. Vaz: Conference papers are produced by the Presidency for discussion at both Preparatory Group and ministerial levels. They do not require a formal response from member states' Governments. Discussion so far has focused mainly on the size and composition of the Economic and Social Committee and Committee of the
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Regions. For reasons of cost and effectiveness, the Government would not like to see either the Economic and Social Committee or the Committee of the Regions grow much above their present size after enlargement, although we shall ensure that the UK continues to be fairly represented on both Committees.
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