§ Mr. WheelerTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will publish the number of unpaid parking fines incurred by each diplomatic mission in London during 1987; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. EggarThe information requested by my hon. Friend is given in the table. The table also includes those international organisations which have incurred unpaid fines. The figures may be reduced by late payment.
The total for 1987 (14,437) indicates a 35 per cent. reduction over the total 1986 figure (22,331) and is only 13 per cent. of the 1984 figure (108,845)—the last to be published before the introduction of our policy on parking by members of diplomatic missions in May 1985.
We welcome the further reduction in unpaid parking fines that has been achieved during 1987 and appreciate the co-operation of diplomatic missions since the introduction of the parking policy. We shall, however, continue to monitor carefully the level of unpaid fines, and bring pressure to bear on diplomatic missions to reduce this further.
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1987 Total First six months Second six months Egypt 799 426 373 Soviet Union 622 271 351 China 551 245 306 France 513 481 32 Spain 435 271 164 Iraq 424 229 195 Qatar 413 178 235 Pakistan 394 251 143 Saudi Arabia 382 198 184 United Arab Emirates 358 233 125 Malaysia 329 201 128 Poland 329 150 179 Italy 302 187 115 Oman 295 253 42 Morocco 263 164 99 Greece 258 120 138 Turkey 254 103 151 Nigeria 251 88 163 Thailand 246 157 89 Sudan 236 116 120 Zimbabwe 223 150 73 Israel 216 116 100 India 207 104 103 Ghana 205 106 99 Sierra Leone 189 99 90 Kuwait 186 55 131 German Dem Rep 185 90 95 Iran 183 165 18 Algeria 172 91 81 Barbados 172 121 51 Portugal 170 111 59
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1987 Total First six months Second six months Tunisia 166 114 52 Jordan 165 106 59 Cameroon 159 56 103 Peru 155 83 72 Japan 153 74 79 Zaire 150 79 71 Brazil 149 84 65 Korea 149 98 51 Cote d'Ivoire 138 44 94 Kenya 138 41 97 Canada 130 94 36 German Fed Rep 130 74 56 Brunei 127 79 48 Venezuela 116 52 64 Yugoslavia 104 51 53 Cyprus 96 55 41 Burma 88 59 29 Ethiopia 82 48 34 Finland 82 52 30 Bulgaria 80 40 40 Gabon 78 47 31 United States 77 60 17 Chile 76 49 27 Ireland 74 44 30 Bangladesh 71 34 37 Liberia 70 42 28 Jamaica 68 32 36 Indonesia 65 43 22 Norway 60 27 33 Zambia 60 29 31 Romania 59 35 24 Sweden 58 30 28 Belgium 57 36 21 Uruguay 55 37 18 Hungary 53 38 15 PDR Yemen 53 31 22 Iceland 51 28 23 Tanzania 48 26 22 Philippines 45 29 16 Yemen Arab Republic 44 20 24 Senegal 43 13 30 Guyana 42 17 25 Lebanon 41 30 11 Somalia 41 21 20 Uganda 41 19 22 Fiji 40 23 17 Czechoslovakia 38 22 16 Mexico 35 30 5 Paraguay 33 13 20 Trinidad 31 13 18 Botswana 29 13 16 Gambia 27 0 27 Cuba 26 8 18 Mauritius 25 11 14 Ecuador 24 8 16 Colombia 23 12 11 Panama 22 10 12 Costa Rica 20 13 7 Lesotho 19 4 15 South Africa 19 16 3 Togo 18 10 8 Honduras 16 5 11 Antigua and Barbuda 13 5 8 Austria 12 12 0 Nepal 10 6 4 Nicaragua 10 5 5 Seychelles 10 2 8 Afghanistan 8 6 2 Eastern Caribbean 8 5 3 Sri Lanka 8 6 2 Bahamas 7 6 1 Bahrain 6 3 3 Malawi 6 3 3 Netherlands 6 3 3 Bolivia 5 3 2 Denmark 5 0 5
1987 Total First six months Second six months Swaziland 5 3 2 Vietnam 4 2 2 Papua New Guinea 3 0 3 Dominica 2 1 1 Luxembourg 2 2 0 Singapore 2 2 0 Mongolia 1 0 1 Angola 0 0 0 Australia 0 0 0 El Salvador 0 0 0 Grenada 0 0 0 Guatemala 0 0 0 Holy See 0 0 0 Malta 0 0 0 New Zealand 0 0 0 Switzerland 0 0 0 Tonga 0 0 0 Intenational Organisations Commonwealth Secretary 75 40 35 WEU 15 6 9 IMO 13 5 8 Cocoa 7 1 6 United Nations 0 0 0 EEC 0 0 0 Coffee 0 0 0 Inmarsat 0 0 0 Sugar 0 0 0 Total 14,437 8,068 6,369
§ Mr. WheelerTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many serious offences were allegedly committed in 1987 by persons entitled to diplomatic immunity; and how many foreign diplomats were withdrawn from their posts in Britain in that year as a result of alleged offences.
§ Mr. EggarForty-three alleged serious offences by persons entitled to immunity were drawn to the attention of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1987. "Serious offences" are defined in accordance with the report of the Foreign Affairs Committee "The Abuse of Diplomatic Immunities and Privileges" (1985) as offences falling into a category which could in certain circumstances attract a penalty of six months or more; I am advised that very few of the alleged offences would have been likely to attract a custodial sentence. The majority involve drinking and driving and shoplifting. Eighteen diplomats were withdrawn from their posts in Britain in 1987 following alleged offences.