§ Mr. ClappisonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department on how many occasions he has declined the request of a visiting group of MPs from another country for a meeting with a minister from his Department. [56851]
§ Mr. StrawWhenever requests for meetings are received from Members of Parliament of another country, I and my colleagues and officials in my Department do our best to fulfil them. On some occasions this unfortunately proves not to be possible. For example, on Tuesday 20 October my office was asked by the Chilean Embassy if I was available to see a delegation of Chilean Opposition Parliamentarians to take receipt of a letter. My office said that I was not available but that my Private Secretary could take receipt of the letter. I have written further to the hon. Member about this matter. My Department does not, however, keep records for visits from MPs from other countries which are declined.
§ Mr. ClappisonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the occasions on which he or a member of his ministerial team have met Members of Parliament from another country in the course of their visit to the United Kingdom. [56850]
§ Mr. StrawNo central record is kept of meetings held with Members of Parliament from other countries. The list cannot therefore be guaranteed to be comprehensive.
127W
Date Lord Williams met: 7 January Vjjal Dosanijh—Attorney General Maureen Maloney—Deputy Attorney General, British Columbia 21 January Dr. Raul Granillo Ocampo—Minister of Justice, Argentina 19 March Mr. Marat Baglai—Chairman of the Constitutional Court, Russia 9 April Mr. Chris Sidoti—Australian Human Rights Commissioner, Australia 28 April Mr. Zhang Geng—Vice Minister of Justice, China 29 April Dr. Fernando Maurett—Member of the Lower Chamber of Parliament, Argentina 21 May M. Montebourg—Deputy French Parliament. France 2 July Mr. Murray Thompson MP, Australia Hon. Maree Luckins, Australia Mr. Carlo Carli MP, Australia Mr. Bob Cameron MP, Australia 21 July Justice Sophia Akuffo—Justice of the Supreme Court, Ghana 30 July Mr. Khalid Anwer—Minister of Law, Justice and Human Rights, Pakistan Waseem Afzal—Joint Secretary, Pakistan Javeed Iqbal—Deputy High Commissioner in the United Kingdom, Pakistan 2 October Chaudry Mohammad Farooq—Attorney General, Pakistan Pakistan Khraar Quireshi (Aide) George Howarth met: 7 July 1997 Rodney Lopes Ambassador, Cuba 15 September 1997 Timothy E. Wirth, United States Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs 29 October 1997 Dr. Carlos Tablante, Minister for Venezuela 12 November 1997 Widar Andersson, Political Adviser, Swedish Prime Minister 19 January 1998 His Excellency Sar Kheng, Deputy Prime Minister for Cambodia 4 March 1998 Mr. Vorobiev, Russian Minister 15 May 1998 Snr. Costa Bauer, Peru 20 May 1998 Peino Arlacchi, Executive Director of United Nations Drug Control Programme 8 July 1998 Snr. Sottolongo, Cuban Justice Minister 7 October 1998 Kurban Boymuradov, Uzbekistan Deputy Prime Minister Joyce Quin met: 3 June 1997 Dr. Mzimela, South African Prisons Minister David Simmons, Barbadian Attorney General 26 June 1997 Colonel Turlajs, Latvian Interior Minister 18 September 1997 Kurt Schelter, German Interior Minister 12 November 1997 Valeriu Stoica, Romanian Minister of Justice 25 November 1997 European Parliament Civil Liberties and Internal Affairs Committee 1 December 1997 Jose Maria Gil-Robles, President of the European Parliament 18 December 1997 Georges Romeos, Greek Public Order Minister 18 March 1998 European Parliament Institutional Affairs Committee (6 MEPs) 23 March 1998 Bogomil Bonev, Bulgarian Interior Minister 24 March 1998 Alan Turk and Michel Dreyfus-Schmidt, French Senators 25 March 1998 George Anastassopoulos, Greek MEP 6 April 1998 Andy Scott, Canadian Prisons Minister 20 April 1998 Jussi Jarventaus, Finnish Justice Minister 31 June 1998 Hon. Dr. Peter Machungwa, Zambian Home Affairs Minister 21 July 1998 Polish Minister of the Interior and Deputy Prime Minister Mike O'Brien met: 4 November 1997 Mr. Bratinka, Minister Without Portfolio, Czech Republic 12 November 1997 Chief Buthelezi, Interior Minister, South Africa 11 May 1998 Home Affairs Minister, Bangladesh 18 May 1998 Mr. Atanasov, Interior Minister, Bulgaria 27 May 1998 Security Minister, Ivory Coast 9 June 1998 Mr. Bradford, Immigration Minister, New Zealand 24 June 1998 Mr. Winkler, Deputy Foreign Minister, Czech Republic 19 October 1998 Mr Kavan, Foreign Minister, Czech Republic and Mr. Uhl, Human Rights Monitor, Czech Republic