§ Mr. CorbynTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department to which (a) Ministers, (b) officials,414W (c) lawyers and (d) foreign Governments information concerning the medical condition of General Pinochet has been made available. [110117]
§ Mr. StrawI informed the House on 12 January 2000, Official Report, columns 277–78, of the conclusions of the medical report on Senator Pinochet which I had commissioned. I have passed a copy of the report to my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department with responsibility for extradition matters, Lord Bassam, and another copy to my hon and learned Friend, the Solicitor-General. The report has also been copied to the Government's Chief Medical Officer; the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP); a member of the Treasury Solicitor's Department; and the separate sets of officials and Counsel advising the Solicitor-General, the DPP (in his capacity as domestic prosecuting authority) and me on this case. I sent a copy to Senator Pinochet's legal representatives on 11 January. I have not disclosed the report to any foreign Government.
I have also received medical information, from Senator Pinochet's legal representatives when I was considering the first Authority To Proceed in the case in December 1998, and from the Embassy of Chile in 1999. I have made this material available within the Government on the same basis as the report I commissioned. The material from the Embassy of Chile was passed to me by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and therefore was also seen by officials advising on the case and in some cases by my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary and other Ministers.
§ Mr. Geraint DaviesTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will make a decision in the case of Senator Pinochet. [106936]
§ Mr. StrawI will do so as soon as possible, but not before the High Court gives judgment in the current judicial review proceedings. I propose to give notice to the parties to the case, on the day before I expect to make my decision, and will notify the parties and this House immediately when the decision has been taken. It also remains my intention to make a full oral statement to the House when I am clear that it is appropriate to do so.