Iraq (Hansard, 23 July 2004)

§ Andrew Rosindell
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how the Iraqi police force is funded. [184271]

§ Mr. Rammell
The Iraqi police budget is financed through the Iraqi budget and administered by the Iraqi Ministry of Interior. Iraq's budget consists of funds paid into the Development Fund for Iraq (DPI), established under United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1483 of 22 May 2003. The DPI includes receipts from oil exports and transferred assets of the former Government of Iraq. Additional funding from donor countries and the US Supplemental are paying for specific projects associated with improving the Iraqi Police Service. Donor funds are either committed bilaterally or through the International Reconstruction Fund Facility for Iraq (IRFFI). US Supplemental funds are disbursed through the US-run Project and Contracting Office (formerly called the Project Management Office).

§ Llew Smith
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he has received evidence that terrorists operating in Iraq have secured since May 2003 material that can be put to weapons of mass destruction use. [185149]

§ Mr. MacShane
We regularly receive intelligence assessments that address the situation in Iraq and its wider impact, including on the threat from international terrorism.

§ Lynne Jones
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether any hon. Members had an input into the preparation of the September 2002 Dossier, Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction. [185225]

§ Mr. MacShane
As has already been made clear the dossier was drafted by the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC), and any changes suggested by Ministers and other officials were accepted or rejected by them. This process was fully discussed in Lord Hutton's Report.

§ Adam Price
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether British officials were told of Abdel Bassel Turk's concern about human rights abuses in 2003. [185949]

§ Mr. MacShane
The then Iraqi Minister for Human Rights, Abdel Basit Turki, raised some aspects of Coalition detention practices with British officials in November 2003.

§ Llew Smith
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what proportion of Iraq's declaration of the status of its programmes of weapons of mass destruction, provided to the United Nations on 8 December 2002, had been translated up to 19 March 2003; what proportion has been translated to date; what plans there are for further translation: what efforts have been made to verify details of the declaration through the work of the Iraq Survey Group; and what plans he has to make public all or part of the translated text. [186182]

§ Mr. MacShane
Translation of the Iraqi declaration was complete by 19 March 2003.
The Iraq Survey Group was not tasked with verifying the December 2002 declaration.
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The declaration was required by UN Security Council Resolution 1441. It is for the UN to decide whether to publish any part of the declaration.

§ Llew Smith
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether, in respect of the information Her Majesty's Government received from a foreign intelligence source suggesting that Iraq had attempted to procure uranium from Niger, checks were made with former Iraqi ambassador Wissam Al-Zahawi. [186183]

§ Mr. MacShane
No. In the circumstances prevailing in late 2002/early 2003 it would not have been possible for UK officials to have discussed the issue directly with ambassador Al-Zahawi.

§ Llew Smith
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he requested(a) the Secret Intelligence Service and (b) the Government Communications Headquarters for updated evaluations of the conclusions set out in the Government dossier on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction (i) following the dossier's publication up to 20 March 2003 and (ii) once the United Kingdom was in receipt of Iraq's declaration on its programmes of weapons of mass destruction, pursuant to the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1441 (2002), provided on 8 December 2002. [186216]

§ Mr. MacShane
Intelligence has been gathered and evaluated on an on-going basis since the publication of the dossier.