Iraq (Hansard, 19 December 2003)

§ Norman Lamb
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether(a) Ministers and (b) officials from (i) his Department and (ii) other Departments have had contact with Mr. Nadhmi Auchi since the conflict in Iraq; and if he will make a statement. [142019]

§ Mr. Rammell
As far as I am aware, Ministers and officials from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office have not had contact with Mr. Nadhmi Auchi since the conflict in Iraq. I am also not aware of any contact between Government Ministers or officials other than Mr. Auchi writing to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry on 15 May 2003 to introduce the Anglo Arab Organisation. The Secretary of State acknowledged his letter on 29 May 2003.

§ Norman Lamb
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether Mr. Nadhmi Auchi has advised the Government on aspects of post-conflict Iraq on an(a) informal and (b) formal basis; and if he will make a statement. [142021]

§ Mr. Rammell
As far as I am aware, Mr. Auchi has not advised the Government on aspects of post-conflict Iraq.

§ Mr. Best
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the(a) numbers and (b) origins of non-Iraqi fighters opposed to coalition forces in Iraq. [144327]

§ Mr. Rammell
We believe foreign fighters from a range of countries are present in Iraq. Most, but not all, have probably travelled from other countries in the Gulf, the Middle East and Africa. A smaller number may have travelled from Europe. We have no precise information on the number of foreign fighters currently in Iraq. Since any estimate of the number of foreign fighters would be based on intelligence, under Exemptions 1 and 2 of Part 2 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information, it would not be appropriate to provide further details.
85W

§ Mr. Godsiff
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when the full minutes and proceedings for meetings of the International Advisory and Monitoring Board for the Development Fund for Iraq will be published. [145119]

§ Mr. Rammell
The International Advisory and Monitoring Board (IAMB) held its first meeting on 5 December. According to the Terms of Reference for the Board all minutes of meetings of the IAMB will be made publicly available within 30 days of being finalised by the IAMB. The terms of reference and a press release on the meeting are available on the IMF"s website at www.imf.org

§ Adam Price
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether United Kingdom representatives in Iraq had prior knowledge of the raid on the headquarters of the Iraqi Federation of Workers' Trade Unions on Saturday, 6 December. [145218]

§ Mr. MacShane
The UK Government have no information about an incident at the temporary headquarters of the Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions on 6 December 2003. In any case, the UK is not routinely consulted on US tactical operations where UK forces are not involved.

§ Mr. Carmichael
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps the Government is taking to provide advice on the security situation in Iraq to UK civilians offered employment there. [145279]

§ Mr. Rammell
The Government are going to considerable lengths to mitigate and manage the security risks for the British civilians whom they are employing in Iraq. But, for obvious reasons, we do not describe publicly the measures we are taking.

§ Mr. Hancock
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to his answer of 9 December 2003,Official Report, column 422W, on Iraq, what information he has collated about the reasons why families of the Iraqi Governing Council have left Iraq since the coalition invasion. [145674]

§ Mr. Rammell
The reasons why families of Iraqi Governing Council members come and go from Iraq are personal, and a matter for the families concerned. We have not sought to collate information on their movements.

§ Keith Vaz
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when he next plans to visit Iraq. [146223]

§ Mr. Rammell
Foreign engagements for my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary and other Ministers are kept under constant review. It is not practice to announce such visits until they are firm. Because of the unpredictable nature of world events, final decisions on overseas visits are often not possible until very shortly before the day of travel and occasionally not until they are under way.