Iraq (Hansard, 11 September 2003)

§ Andrew George
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of reports from members of the Christian community in Iraq that they have been subject to assaults, murder and discrimination since the commencement of military action in Iraq earlier this year. [128081]
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§ Mr. Rammell
The British Office in Baghdad has received no reports from members of the Christian community suggesting any form of discrimination against them since the commencement of military action in Iraq. However, FCO Ministers have received correspondence from MPs passing on constituents' concerns about religious freedom in Iraq. Our staff in Iraq meet regularly with representatives of many Iraqi political and religious groups, including Christians, and we will continue to monitor the situation closely.

§ Andrew George
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent representations he has received in respect of the position of the Christian community in Iraq. [128083]

§ Mr. Rammell
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office Ministers and the British Office in Baghdad have not received any formal representations in respect of the position of the Christian community in Iraq. We have had some correspondence from MPs and others on the subject of religious freedom in the country.

§ Bob Russell
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many police officers from each police authority volunteered in response to the request to go to Iraq to help train the Iraqi Police Force; how many will be going; and for how long. [129327]

§ Mr. Rammell
With the agreement of my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary, my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary asked the Association of Chief Police Officers to seek up to 200 volunteers to create a pool of United Kingdom police officers for training for potential deployment to Iraq. The pool is intended to sustain the deployment of up to 100 United Kingdom officers at any one time. Some may be deployed to a third country to assist in the out of country training of the Iraqi Police service. In the event of deployment, secondments will be for a period of six to twelve months.
We are continuing to receive applications and have started the selection process. To date, we have received in excess of 230 applications from 23 forces.