Foreign Affairs Committee Annual Report 2003

Home , Peter Ricketts

House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee

First Report of Session 2003–04

HC 220

House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee

Foreign Affairs Committee Annual Report 2003

First Report of Session 2003–04

Report, together with formal minutes and Appendix

Ordered by The House of Commons to be printed 15 January 2004

HC 220 Published on 22 January 2004 by authority of the House of Commons London: The Stationery Office Limited £0.00

The Foreign Affairs Committee

The Foreign Affairs Committee is appointed by the House of Commons to examine the expenditure, administration, and policy of the Office of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and its associated public bodies.

Current membership Rt Hon Donald Anderson MP (Labour, Swansea East) (Chairman) David Chidgey MP (Liberal Democrat, Eastleigh) Fabian Hamilton MP (Labour, Leeds North East) Eric Illsley MP (Labour, Barnsley Central) Andrew Mackinlay MP (Labour, Thurrock) John Maples MP (Conservative, Stratford-on-Avon) Bill Olner MP (Labour, Nuneaton) Richard Ottaway (Conservative, Croydon South) Greg Pope MP (Labour, Hyndburn) Rt Hon Sir John Stanley MP (Conservative, Tonbridge and Malling) Gisela Stuart MP (Labour, Birmingham Edgbaston)

The following Member was also a member of the Committee during the Parliament.

Sir Patrick Cormack MP (Conservative, Staffordshire South)

Powers The Committee is one of the departmental select committees, the powers of which are set out in House of Commons Standing Orders, principally in SO No 152. These are available on the Internet via www.parliament.uk.

Publications The Reports and evidence of the Committee are published by The Stationery Office by Order of the House. All publications of the Committee (including press notices) are on the Internet at www.parliament.uk/parliamentary_committees/foreign_affairs_committee.cfm. A list of Reports of the Committee in the present Parliament is in the inside front cover of this volume.

Committee staff The current staff of the Committee are Steve Priestley (Clerk), Geoffrey Farrar (Second Clerk), Ann Snow (Committee Specialist), Kit Dawnay (Committee Specialist), Kevin Candy (Committee Assistant) and Julia Kalogerides (Secretary)

Contacts All correspondence should be addressed to the Clerks of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Committee Office, House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA. The telephone numbers for general enquiries are 020 7219 6106/6105/6394; the Committee’s email address is [email protected].

Contents

Report Page

Introduction 3 Continuing scrutiny of foreign policy 4 Tenth Report of Session 2002-03, Foreign Policy Aspects of the War against Terrorism (HC 405) 4 Evidence on the Greek European Council (HC 774) 5 Evidence on the Inter-Governmental Conference (HC 606) 5 Seventh Report of Session 2002-03, Strategic Export Controls (HC 474) 6 Scrutiny of specific foreign policy issues 6 Eighth Report of Session 2002-03, Zimbabwe (HC 399) 7 Eleventh Report of Session 2002-03, Gibraltar (HC 1024) 7 Ninth Report of Session 2002-03, The Decision to go to War in Iraq (HC 813) 8 Scrutiny of Foreign & Commonwealth Office publications 9 Twelfth Report of Session 2002-03, Foreign and Commonwealth Office Annual Report 2003 (HC 859) 9 Fourth Report of Session 2002-03, Human Rights Annual Report 2002 (HC 257) 10 Pre-legislative foreign policy scrutiny 10 Fifth Report of Session 2002-03, The Biological Weapons Green Paper (HC 671) 11 Sixth Report of Session 2002-03, The Government’s Proposals for Secondary Legislation under the Export Control Act (HC 620) 11 Other scrutiny activities 12 Financial scrutiny 12 Scrutiny of the Foreign Office’s associated public bodies 13 Scrutiny of major appointments 13 Departmental response 13 Assisting the House 14 The future 14

Annex 1 15 Informal Meetings held by the Foreign Affairs Committee in 2003 15 Session 2002–03 15 Session 2003–04 19

Annex 2 20 Oral evidence sessions 20 Session 2001–02 20 Session 2002–03 23 Session 2003–04 26

Appendix 27 Correspondence between the Chairman of the Committee and the Secretary of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office 27

Formal minutes 30

Introduction

1. In this Report, the Committee seeks to account for its work on behalf of Parliament during the calendar year 2003. The Committee’s role, set out in the Standing Order under which it is appointed, is to examine the expenditure, administration and policy of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and its associated public bodies (the British Council; the BBC World Service; and the Wilton Park conference centre). We discharge that role by carrying out relevant inquiries; by receiving written evidence on those inquiries; by questioning Ministers, officials and outside bodies on their evidence; by visiting countries to see things on the ground for ourselves and to engage in direct discussions with their governments, legislatures and opinion-formers; and by drawing up and publishing a Report to the House, setting out our conclusions and recommendations. The Government responds to each of our conclusions and recommendations, usually within two months of a Report being made, and some Reports are debated in the House.1

2. As well as undertaking its formal inquiries, the Committee held 62 informal meetings with visitors in 2003. Among those whom we met and with whom we exchanged views were the President of Pakistan, Mr Musharraf, the French Foreign Minister, M de Villepin, the Iranian Foreign Minister, Dr Kharrazi, the NATO Secretary General, Lord Robertson, and a range of visiting ministers, parliamentarians and others from all parts of the globe, together with foreign ambassadors in London. We have also been able to meet a number of newly appointed United Kingdom Ambassadors and High Commissioners before they take up their posts, and those already en poste, and we have found this particularly useful. From time to time, the Committee as a whole, its Chairman or its Clerks meet representatives of non-governmental organisations (NGOs), which enables us to be better informed on a range of issues which goes beyond our formal inquiries. A full list of our informal meetings in 2003 is at Annex 1.

3. As was the case last year, we have divided our Report into five main sections, which we believe most appropriately reflect the work we carried out in 2003: continuing scrutiny of foreign policy; scrutiny of specific foreign policy issues; scrutiny of Foreign and Commonwealth Office publications; pre-legislative foreign policy scrutiny; and other scrutiny activities. Later in the Report, we place our activity in the context of the work of the House in scrutinising the policies and actions of the executive; we comment on the response of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) to our Reports; and we preview our future programme. Within that structure, we also seek to show how the Committee’s work relates to the ‘core tasks’ identified by our colleagues on the House’s Liaison Committee.

1 The Committee also examined the following publications, on which it has not reported to the House: British Council, British Council Annual Report 2002–03, 2003; BBC World Service, BBC World Service Annual Review 2002/03, 2003; DTI and FCO, British Trade International: Departmental Report 2003, Cm 5915, May 2003; FCO, Foreign & Commonwealth Office Business Plan 2003–06, April 2003; and FCO, Foreign and Commonwealth Office Resource Accounts 2001–02, HC 324, January 2003.

Continuing scrutiny of foreign policy 4. As noted above, the Standing Order of the House under which the Committee is appointed requires it to examine the expenditure, administration and policy of the FCO and its associated public bodies. Each of these three areas of scrutiny is important, but in the case of a relatively small and low-spending department such as the FCO, it is the third which predominates. We continue, therefore, to regard the core of our work as being our ongoing scrutiny of the United Kingdom’s foreign policy.

Tenth Report of Session 2002-03, Foreign Policy Aspects of the War against Terrorism (HC 405) 5. We take the view that there is no more urgent or more important issue in foreign policy now than the war against terrorism. Our Report of July 2003 on Foreign Policy Aspects of the War against Terrorism2 was the third to bear that title since the events of September 2001, and our work on this inquiry continues. A fourth Report will be published in January 2004, and we intend that a fifth should follow in the summer.

6. It has been our intention in preparing and agreeing these Reports to produce a coherent body of work which assists Parliament, the executive and the public to identify the salient issues which are relevant to the war against terrorism, and the main questions which have to be answered. Some issues have been raised consistently in each of the Reports, while others have been the subject of a particular emphasis in one Report only. Our Report of July 2003 focused to a large extent on the build-up to war in Iraq at the UN and in other international organisations; on the situation in Iraq after the main conflict phase was over; and on developments in the campaign against international terrorist groups. In our forthcoming Report, we intend to follow up these questions, but also to provide a more thorough analysis of the political and security situation in the Middle East generally, which has such a bearing on the war against terrorism.

7. In September 2003, we visited Syria, Jordan, Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, in order to see the situation in the Middle East for ourselves and to meet some of those most involved in the affairs of the region. We held discussions with, among others, Syrian President Bashar Assad, Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei and Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom. In the course of our very full programme, we visited Quneitra, the wrecked Syrian town on the cease-fire line with Israel; we went to Qalqilya, a Palestinian town now entirely surrounded by the new security barrier erected by Israel; and in Tel Aviv we met Israelis who, whether directly or indirectly, had been victims of violence. In October, we visited Iran at the same time as the British, French and German foreign ministers, who were there to sign a nuclear non-proliferation agreement with the Iranian government. Since then—in December 2003—some of us have been able to visit Baghdad and Basrah to see the situation there for ourselves. Discussions were held with the Iraqi Interim Governing Council (IGC); members of the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), including its Administrator, Ambassador Paul Bremer; Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, the senior US military commander in Iraq; Sir Hillary Synnott, the Head of the

2 Foreign Affairs Committee, Tenth Annual Report of Session 2002–03, Foreign Policy Aspectsof the War Against Terrorism, HC 405. The other two Reports were: Second Report of Session 2002–03, Foreign Policy Aspectsof the War Against Terrorism, HC 196; and Seventh Report of Session 2001–02, Foreign Policy Aspectsof the War Against Terrorism, HC 384.

CPA in Southern Iraq; and senior British Armed Forces officers. What we saw and what we discussed in all these countries will be reflected in our forthcoming Report, and in a separate Report on Iran.

Evidence on the Greek European Council (HC 774)

Evidence on the Italian European Council (HC 129) 8. We have continued our practice of hearing oral evidence from the Foreign Secretary before each major European Council. The main subject of the sessions held in 2003 was enlargement of the EU from 15 to 25 members. Agreement on the treaty to achieve this was reached in Copenhagen in December 2002 and the treaty was signed in Athens in April 2003. We visited Athens in January to discuss with the Greek Foreign Minister and our counterparts in the Hellenic Parliament their priorities for the six months of the Greek presidency, and in June we heard evidence from the Secretary of State immediately prior to the Thessaloniki European Council of Heads of State. Similarly, in July we visited Rome, and in December we once again questioned Mr Straw prior to the Italian European Council (which, as is expected to be the case with all future such Councils, was held in Brussels).

9. We consider that our EU presidency visits and European Council evidence sessions are an important means of informing the Committee—and, through the Committee, the House and others—of current events and debates in the European Union. They are also useful instruments for exchanging views and, in the case of the visits, for establishing or consolidating working relations and links with our counterparts in other member states.

10. Under the proposed new constitution for Europe the present system of six-month rotating presidencies would be replaced by a President elected by the Council for a term of two and a half years.3 In the event that this proposal is adopted, we will consider how best in those new circumstances to maintain and expand the valuable contact which our presidency visits have enabled us to have with the governments and national parliaments of other EU countries.

Evidence on the Inter-Governmental Conference (HC 606) 11. In our annual Report for 2002, we noted that one of our number—Gisela Stuart— represented the House on the Convention on the Future of Europe, and sat on its presiding body.4 Ms Stuart and her three colleagues from the United Kingdom Parliament gave regular reports to the House throughout the period during which the Convention was active (from February 2002 to July 2003) and appeared before several Parliamentary committees. For the Foreign Affairs Committee, having one of its members in such a key position on the Convention proved to be enormously valuable and provided insights into the process of drawing up the proposals for a new constitution, which were considered by

3 Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Draft Constitutional Treaty for the European Union, Cm 5897, August 2003, Article I:21. 4 Foreign Affairs Committee, Third Report of Session 2002–03, Foreign Affairs Committee Annual Report 2002, HC 404.

an Inter-Governmental Conference (IGC). Members of the Committee also took an active part in the meetings of the Standing Committee on the Convention and the IGC.

12. As well as benefiting from the presence of one of us on the Convention, we heard oral evidence from the Minister for Europe, Dr Denis MacShane, in October, when we were able to discuss progress at the Inter-Governmental Conference. We also took the opportunities afforded by our evidence sessions with the Secretary of State on the European Councils (see above) to raise relevant issues. As well as appearing on our web site shortly after being heard, this evidence has been drawn together and published in a single volume. We continue to take a close interest in EU enlargement and its consequences, as well as in the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), in its European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) and in proposals for a European ‘foreign minister’.

Seventh Report of Session 2002-03, Strategic Export Controls (HC 474) 13. We described in last year’s annual Report our participation, together with the Defence, International Development and Trade and Industry Committees, in the ‘Quadripartite’ Committee on strategic arms export controls. That scrutiny continued in the year 2003, when the Quadripartite Committee published two Reports. The first of these was a detailed examination of the Government’s proposals for secondary legislation under the Export Control Act (see paras 40–42 below) and the second was its regular examination of the Government's Strategic Export Controls Annual Report. The latter Report built on the work done in previous years, which had resulted in the establishment by the Government of a system for scrutinising and approving (or refusing) applications to export armaments to certain destinations.

14. The 2003 Report on the latest Government's Strategic Export Controls Annual Report (for 2001), as in previous years, examined a wide range of issues related to the UK export control regime, as well as scrutinising specific licensing decisions. The Committees looked at new rules on the export of components in multilateral manufacturing projects, the Government’s regulation of defence sales by British industry and the operation of the Export Control Organisation, which is responsible for administering the export control system. Among other recommendations, the Committees urged the Government to undertake greater scrutiny of the end-use of defence equipment, in order to prevent material either being used for a different purpose than that originally stated by the importer, or being transferred to another user. They also looked closely at the potential impact of the export of conventional weapons to India and Pakistan on regional stability, and the export of small arms to certain countries.

15. We look forward to continuing this close co-operation with our fellow Committees on this important subject and have already begun the initial scrutiny of the Strategic Export Controls Report 2002, which was published in 2003. In particular, we intend to continue our ongoing dialogue with the Government on how best Parliament may become more involved in the prior scrutiny of export licences.

Scrutiny of specific foreign policy issues 16. As well as its ongoing scrutiny of major foreign policy issues, the Foreign Affairs Committee has in successive Parliaments carried out inquiries into particular aspects of the

United Kingdom’s foreign policy. This year, as last year, we have reported on the situation in Gibraltar and in Zimbabwe. We also produced a Report on the decision to go to war in Iraq, and during 2004 we will be reporting on South Africa.

17. In November 2003, three Members of the Committee accompanied colleagues from the Select Committee on Constitutional Affairs, who were conducting an inquiry into entry clearance tribunals, on a visit to New Delhi, Mumbai and Istanbul. This visit provided a useful opportunity to experience the work of entry clearance officers overseas, and was a good example of co-operation between select committees with overlapping interests.

18. The visit to Istanbul took place just two weeks before the dreadful bombing in which the Consul General, Roger Short, his personal assistant, Lisa Hallworth, and seven locally engaged staff lost their lives; many others were injured. Most of us had met Roger Short either in the course of the recent visit or during an earlier visit in March 2002, when we had witnessed at first hand how hard he and his colleagues worked. We wish to place on record here our appreciation of and admiration for the work carried out by the FCO’s diplomatic and consular staff, often under the most trying of circumstances.

Eighth Report of Session 2002-03, Zimbabwe (HC 399) 19. Sadly, we found when we inquired into the situation in Zimbabwe this year that there had been no improvement on what we had learned last year. In fact, the situation in Zimbabwe has gone from bad to worse. Although we have been frustrated that there is perhaps little that is new to say on this subject, we believe that is very important that Parliament remains fully focused on the latest developments, and that the profile of Zimbabwe in British political life remains high.

20. We welcome the decision by the President of Nigeria not to invite Robert Mugabe to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), held in Abuja in December 2003, although we regret the circumstances which made that refusal necessary.5 Despite the opposition of several Commonwealth members, Zimbabwe’s suspension from its councils was confirmed by the CHOGM. We support this decision, while regretting Mugabe’s decision to withdraw his country from the Commonwealth, and that the plight of the Zimbabwean people under his misrule remains so dire, but we look forward to being able to report on positive developments in Zimbabwe in 2004. Meanwhile, we will be seeking to maintain parliamentary interest in what is happening there through our inquiry into the United Kingdom’s relations with South Africa.

Eleventh Report of Session 2002-03, Gibraltar (HC 1024) 21. Gibraltar has been a subject of perennial interest for this Committee, for very good reasons. As a territory which is constitutionally under the sovereignty of the United Kingdom and which is located geographically within the European Union, but which at present has no voice of its own in the councils of either, Gibraltar and its people are owed a special duty by the British Parliament. We accept that duty, and in seeking to discharge it, we have maintained a close interest in the Government’s negotiations with Spain on joint

5 Prior to the Meeting, the Committee had met with the FCO Minister Chris Mullin, who was accompanying the Prime Minster to Abuja, for an informal briefing.

sovereignty over Gibraltar. In our latest Report on this question, published in July, we called on the Government to abandon its ill-advised joint sovereignty proposal. For as long as it refuses to do this, we will continue to press for it.

22. Although it is reflected only in one of the slimmest volumes of our published work,6 we have also monitored developments in relation to other overseas territories and have made representations to Ministers as appropriate—for example, in connection with the new constitution for the Cayman Islands. In 2002, we reached agreement with the FCO that the Committee is consulted on all draft Orders in Council affecting overseas territories. This is a small but important advance in Parliamentary scrutiny.

23. During the Overseas Territories Consultative Council meeting in London in December, the Committee was very pleased to meet visiting Chief Ministers and other representatives from the UK’s overseas territories.7

Ninth Report of Session 2002-03, The Decision to go to War in Iraq (HC 813) 24. We decided on 3rd June to inquire into whether the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, within the Government as a whole, presented accurate and complete information to Parliament in the period leading up to military action in Iraq, particularly in relation to Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction. Later that month, we held twelve oral evidence hearings. Our Report was published on 7th July.8 The following week, we heard further oral evidence from Dr David Kelly, a civil servant working in MoD (on 15th July) and from BBC radio journalist Andrew Gilligan (on 17th July).9

25. Dr Kelly was discovered dead three days after his appearance before the Committee. The circumstances surrounding his death have since been the subject of an inquiry chaired by Lord Hutton. The Chairman of the Committee, Donald Anderson, and one of its Members, Andrew Mackinlay, accepted invitations to appear before the Inquiry. The Committee decided to make available all relevant committee records. The Committee’s Clerk also submitted a chronology of events and a note on committee procedure, to assist the Inquiry. As we prepared this Report, publication of Lord Hutton’s findings was imminent. We will study his conclusions with great care.

26. A number of questions about the select committee process arise from the Hutton Inquiry and from the events which gave rise to it. Once Lord Hutton has reported, we will consider these questions, as no doubt will our colleagues on other select committees and on the Liaison Committee. In due course, we may publish our conclusions.

27. The Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC), which is not a Committee of Parliament, reported on broadly the same area in September.10 It had much greater access

6 Foreign Affairs Committee, Written Evidence, Overseas Territories, HC 114 7 “Fifth Overseas Territories Consultative Council”, FCO press release, 5 December 2003 8 Foreign Affairs Committee, Ninth Report of Session 2002–03, The Decision to go to War in Iraq, HC 813 9 Foreign Affairs Committee, First Special Report of Session 2002–03, Evidence from Mr Andrew Gilligan to the Committee’s Inquiry into the Decision to go to War in Iraq, HC 1044 10 For further information about the ISC’s work, see: www.cabinet-office.gov.uk/intelligence.

to relevant material but it is noteworthy that in an annex to its report, commenting on the findings of our Report, the ISC reached similar conclusions.11

28. In our Report, we recorded our deep disappointment that the Government hampered the Committee in carrying out its scrutiny role effectively by refusing to provide the relevant intelligence-related material which we had repeatedly requested.12 We recommended that the Government should “be prepared to accede to requests from the Foreign Affairs Committee for access to intelligence, when the Committee can demonstrate that it is of key importance to a specific inquiry it is conducting and unless there are genuine concerns for national security.”13 We are greatly disappointed that the Government has not acceded to this request14 and we will not let the matter drop.

29. Our Chairman has privately expressed to Dr Kelly’s family his and the Committee’s sympathy for their loss and for the terrible situation they found themselves in. We wish here to repeat those sentiments.

Scrutiny of Foreign & Commonwealth Office publications 30. The FCO publishes annually two publications in which the Committee takes a close interest and on each of which it produces a Report. The Committee monitors other FCO publications and is always ready, if it judges it appropriate, to hear evidence and to prepare a Report on any of them. In 2003, there were no publications which fell into this latter category, but the publication of a new FCO Strategy in December 2003 was an interesting development, which will have an impact across the range of our work in 2004.

Twelfth Report of Session 2002-03, Foreign and Commonwealth Office Annual Report 2003 (HC 859) 31. In its Twelfth Report, the Committee was pleased to note continuing improvements in the FCO’s presentation of its annual Departmental Report, particularly the inclusion of cost-benefit analyses.15 Although we continue to have concerns about the Report glossing over the less successful stories and concentrating on the good news, we regard it as a helpful account to Parliament of the FCO’s implementation of policy and expenditure of public money.

32. We had previously discussed with the FCO the case for a rapid response centre, ready to respond to crises such as the Bali bombing in 2002. The Committee was very pleased, therefore, to attend the formal opening of the new centre on 8th December and to meet the FCO staff responsible for this welcome innovation.

33. Our annual scrutiny of the Departmental Report is carried out, not only by an analysis of its contents, but on the basis of oral evidence from the FCO’s accounting officer—the

11 Intelligence and Security Committee, Iraqi Weapons of Mass Destruction—Intelligence and Assessments, Cm 5972, September 2003, p 51 12 Foreign Affairs Committee, Ninth Report of Session 2002–03, The Decision to go to War in Iraq, HC 813, paras 67 and 158 13 Ibid., para 169 14 Cm 6062, p 9 15 Twelfth Report of Session 2002–03, Foreign and Commonwealth Office Annual Report 2003, HC 859, para 6.

Permanent Under-Secretary, Sir Michael Jay—and some of his senior colleagues. These oral exchanges provide a very public forum for scrutiny of the expenditure and administration of the FCO, but we also receive information in confidence. While we appreciate being taken into the FCO’s confidence, and always respect the confidentiality which the Government attaches to its documents, we are not convinced that such confidentiality is always necessary. With new freedom of information provisions coming into force, we hope that the FCO will in future be more willing to question the assumptions behind the classification of documents, and to declassify them wherever that can be done without posing any real risk of harm to the national interest.

34. We benefit on our overseas visits from the opportunity to discuss with our ambassadors, high commissioners and other staff various administrative issues at posts, which provide us with useful background material for evidence sessions with the Permanent Under-Secretary.

Fourth Report of Session 2002-03, Human Rights Annual Report 2002 (HC 257) 35. The FCO is responsible for the United Kingdom’s policy on human rights issues globally, and for monitoring human rights in other countries as part of the bilateral relationship between the UK and those countries. Its annual report on human rights sets out thematically its activities in this field, and highlights matters of concern. We heard oral evidence on the 2002 Report from human rights organisations Amnesty and Human Rights Watch, as well as from the responsible FCO Minister, Bill Rammell. Our Report, and the Government’s response to it, continued the dialogue already established between us, and the FCO’s 2003 Human Rights Report reflected a number of our recommendations.16 We expect to produce our Report on the 2003 Report in the Spring of 2004. Our dialogue with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on human rights will continue.

36. Human rights also feature in our mainstream inquiries, particularly during our overseas visits. In 2003, we discussed human rights in the course of our visits to the USA (Guantánamo Bay detainees), Syria (press, political and economic freedoms), Israel (restrictions on free movement of Palestinian people), the Palestinian territories (attacks on Israeli civilians), Iran (religious, press and personal freedoms) and Iraq (moves towards democracy and good governance, nationally and locally). Such discussions form an important aspect of our visits to any country, whatever the inquiry in connection with which they are made.

Pre-legislative foreign policy scrutiny 37. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office generates much less primary or secondary legislation than do most other Departments of State. For the Foreign Affairs Committee, therefore, pre-legislative scrutiny plays a lesser role in its work than is the case with most other departmentally-related select committees. In 2003, this aspect of our work was limited to following up the previous year’s Report on the biological weapons green paper,

16 Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Human Rights Annual Report 2003, Cm 5967, September 2003

and joining with our colleagues from other committees on the Quadripartite Committee to scrutinise the Government’s proposals for secondary legislation on strategic arms export controls.

Fifth Report of Session 2002-03, The Biological Weapons Green Paper (HC 671) 38. In 2002, we raised a number of concerns about the Government’s policies on biological weapons, principally relating to the failure to agree a verification protocol to the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention, and to the voluntary vetting scheme for foreign students in relevant disciplines.17 In 2003, we pursued the first of these questions in correspondence with the FCO and produced a short Report. The second matter was taken up by our colleagues on the Science and Technology Committee, who made recommendations in their Report on The Scientific Response to Terrorism aimed at strengthening the voluntary scheme.18

39. We believe that the work of the Foreign Affairs and Science and Technology Committees on the voluntary vetting scheme is a good example of synergy between select committees. In particular, we welcome the fact that our colleagues chose to pursue in some detail this matter, which we raised in our Report of last year.

Sixth Report of Session 2002-03, The Government’s Proposals for Secondary Legislation under the Export Control Act (HC 620) 40. Working with our colleagues on the Quadripartite Committee,19 we also conducted a detailed scrutiny of the Government's proposals for introducing a regulatory system under the Export Control Act 2002. The Committees took oral evidence from NGOs and the Government, and recommended a number of important improvements to the proposals contained in the consultation paper. We identified several areas in which the Government could have been both more positive and less bureaucratic.

41. The four Committees concluded that the legislation needed to be targeted more effectively towards deterring the irresponsible proliferation of military equipment by British citizens and companies. In particular, they examined closely the extent to which the new regulations should extend to all British citizens, wherever they are operating in the world (extra-territoriality). The Government proposed that only trade in certain long- range missiles and torture equipment, or to an embargoed destination, should be regulated. However, the Committees argued strongly that extra-territorial controls should be applied to all trafficking and brokering activities which, if they were conducted in the UK, would not be granted a licence.20

42. The Quadripartite Committee also recommended that the Government’s proposals needed to be more flexible and extend beyond controlling physical exports to other

17 Foreign Affairs Committee, First Report of Session 2002–03, The Biological Weapons Green Paper, HC 150 18 Science and Technology Committee, Eighth Report of Session 2002–03, The Scientific Response to Terrorism, HC 415 19 See paras 13–15 above. 20 Foreign Affairs Committee, Sixth Report of Session 200203, The Government’s proposals for secondary legislation under the Export Control Act, HC 620, para 50

activities, such as electronic communications and brokering. We were very pleased to contribute to the formulation of such key legislation, and will continue to scrutinise the impact of the regulatory system it introduced in the future.

Other scrutiny activities 43. Our scrutiny of the FCO’s expenditure and administration is carried out mainly—but not wholly—as part of our inquiry into its annual Departmental Report.21 We also ensure that when we visit overseas, we spend some time in the various sections of the Posts concerned, which affords us excellent opportunities to see FCO staff at work and to discuss that work with them informally.

Financial scrutiny 44. The FCO is not numbered among the ‘spending departments’, but this does not mean that its expenditure is insignificant. In financial year 2002–03, FCO expenditure (including on the British Council and BBC World Service) was £1,366 million.22

45. Whatever the scale of a department’s budget, it is important that resources are accounted for with due regard to economy. In our Report on the FCO’s annual Departmental Report for 2003, we noted the Foreign Office’s commitment to achieving efficiency savings of 3% per annum in 2003/4 and of 2.5% in 2004/5–2005/6, as agreed with HM Treasury.23 Sir Michael Jay, the FCO’s Permanent Under-Secretary, told us that “inevitably the continued call by the Treasury to achieve significant efficiencies may mean cuts in FCO core activities.”24 In our Report on the FCO Report, we sought further clarification on how the Office will avoid damage to its core activities, and we will continue to monitor very closely the effects of Treasury-imposed efficiency targets.

46. We have also continued to take an interest in the Treasury’s pressure on the FCO to divest itself of what may be regarded under the new resource-based accounting procedures as underperforming assets (such as architecturally or historically distinguished embassy buildings and residences) and to invest part of the proceeds of these sales in new technology and other improvements. In 2003, we requested and obtained from the FCO limited financial data regarding this policy.

47. We have taken a particular interest in the sale of the Consul General’s Residence in San Francisco, and its replacement by a much smaller, far less prestigious building, as part of the asset recycling programme.25 We were not satisfied that the Office had properly assessed all aspects of the building’s value to the UK’s diplomatic representation in that city or fully took into account the representations of the British American Chamber of Commerce. As a result we held a further oral evidence session on this specific matter with

21 See paras 28–29 above. 22 Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Foreign and Commonwealth Office Departmental Report 2003, Cm 5913, May 2003, p 22 23 Foreign Affairs Committee, Twelfth Report of Session 2002–03, Foreign and Commonwealth Annual Report 2003, HC 859, paras 89–92 24 Ibid., para 91 25 Twelfth Report of Session 2002–03, Foreign and Commonwealth Office Annual Report 2003, HC 859, paras 66–75

the key FCO officials involved in the transaction. While the Committee found that the Office had acted with all propriety throughout the process, with due regard to the guidelines set down by HM Treasury, we nevertheless concluded that the sale was another, “deeply regrettable result of the Office’s misguided asset recycling programme,” and that the sale of the Residence would undoubtedly cause significant damage to British interests in San Francisco.

48. We remain very concerned that appreciating assets (real estate) are being sold off and that some of the proceeds are being spent on depreciating assets (IT systems). The Foreign Office has yet to succeed in explaining to us how this short-sighted policy makes long-term sense. Until they do, we call on them to cease the practice forthwith.

Scrutiny of the Foreign Office’s associated public bodies 49. The two principal public bodies associated with the Foreign Office are the BBC World Service (BBC WS) and the British Council. We received written evidence from each in 2003, and we maintained our practice of meeting British Council staff and BBC WS journalists when making our overseas visits. We wish to record here our appreciation of the valuable work done by the staffs of both bodies.

Scrutiny of major appointments 50. Last year, we recorded our intention to scrutinise any appointments to important diplomatic or consular posts of persons from outside the diplomatic service.26 No such appointments were made in 2003. We remain ready to consider any which might be made in 2004.

Departmental response 51. The FCO has a generally enviable record in responding to the Committee’s Reports within the 2-month period which convention requires. Of ten Government responses to our Reports in 2003, four were made within 2 months; five were made just over that period, for reasons which we accept (for example, because the House was not sitting, or because the Committee was abroad); and one was made very late, for reasons which we do not accept. In all cases, responses were published in the form of Command Papers, a practice which we strongly support.

52. The response which was made unacceptably late was to our Report on the decision to go to war in Iraq. The Report was published on 7th July, and the response was therefore due on 7th September. That day being a Sunday, we would have expected publication to be delayed by a day or two, but on 3rd September our Chairman received a letter from the Secretary of State, informing him that in the Government’s view it would be inappropriate to publish the response before Lord Hutton had concluded his inquiry. We did not challenge this view initially, but when it was clear that the Prime Minister and other Ministers had continued to make public statements on the matters dealt with in the Committee’s Report, our Chairman replied to the letter, making the case for publication.

26 Third Report of Session 2002–03, Foreign Affairs Committee Annual Report 2002, para 21

On 27th October, the Foreign Secretary relented in part. However, the partial response was not published until a further month had elapsed.27 In our view, this delay was unnecessary and unhelpful. Relevant correspondence between the Foreign Secretary and our Chairman is appended to this Report.28

53. We recognise that the circumstances in which we carried out our inquiry into the decision to go to war in Iraq and the ensuing inquiry carried out by Lord Hutton were unique, but we do not accept that the Government was justified in delaying its reply to our Report by eleven weeks. We welcome Ministers’ change of heart, but we will not expect such a delay to occur again without our express assent.

Assisting the House 54. In 2003, six of our Reports were either the subject of debates in the House or in Westminster Hall, or were noted on the Order Paper as being relevant to debates.29 We welcome the increased opportunities for discussion of select committee reports in the sittings of the House held in Westminster Hall, and will continue to put forward our Reports for such debates.

The future 55. Of its nature, a report such as this is retrospective. Nonetheless, it also provides an opportunity to set out our intentions for the future. As noted above, we will carry out our regular inquiries into FCO publications, commencing with the 2003 Human Rights Report, and in the Summer looking at the Departmental Report for the period 2003-04. We will also study the Government’s new foreign policy strategy, published in December 2003,30 and we will monitor progress on the FCO’s review of its consular services. With the failure of the EU’s Inter-Governmental Conference to agree on the future constitution of Europe, we will wish to consider how best to scrutinise the consequences for the United Kingdom. Our inquiry into South Africa will conclude in the first half of 2004. However, we expect our main focus between now and the Summer to remain our work on foreign policy aspects of the war against terrorism.

27 Cm 6062, published on 27th November 2003. 28 See Appendix. 29 The following Reports were debated in the House: Second Report, Session 2002–03, Foreign Policy Aspects of the War Against Terrorism, 11th March 2003 and Ninth Report, Session 2002–03, The Decision to go to War in Iraq, 16th July 2003. Thefollowing Reports were debated in Westminster Hall: Seventh Report, Session 2002–03, Strategic Export Controls:Annual Report for 2001, Licensing Policy and Parliamentary Scrutiny, 27th March 2003; Fourth Report, Session 2002–03, Human Rights Annual Report 2002, 5th June 2003; andSixth Report Session 2002–03, The Government’s Proposal for Secondary Legislation under the Export Control Act, and Fifth Report, Session 2002– 03,Strategic Export Controls Annual Report for 2001, Licensing Policy and Parliamentary Scrutiny,6th November 2003. 30 Foreign and Commonwealth Office, UK International Priorities:A Strategy for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Cm 6052, December 2003

Annex 1

Informal Meetings held by the Foreign Affairs Committee in 2003

Session 2002–03

Wednesday 8th January 2003 HE Mr David Broucher, UK Permanent Representative to the Conference on Disarmament

Wednesday 8th January 2003 HE Sir Jeremy Greenstock, UK Permanent Representative to the United Nations

Thursday 9th January 2003 HE Mr Alexandros Sandis, Greek Ambassador

Thursday 9th January 2003 HE Mr Peter Westmacott, Ambassador to Turkey

Tuesday 4th February 2003 Mr Christian Diaconescu, Secretary of State, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Romania

Thursday 6th February 2003 HE Dr Kamal Kharrazi, Foreign Minister, Islamic Republic of Iran

Monday 10th February 2003 Mr Eduard Kukan, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Slovak Republic

Wednesday 12th February 2003 Hon Stephen Kalonzo Musyoka, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Government of Kenya

Wednesday 26th February 2003 Ms Gerry Jackson and Ms Georgina Godwin, SW Radio Africa

Monday 3rd March 2003 HE Akin Alptuna, Ambassador of Turkey

Monday 10th March 2003 Parliamentary Delegation from Azerbaijan

Monday 17th March 2003 HE Mr Stephen Wright, Ambassador to Spain

Monday 17th March 2003 HE Mr John MacGregor, Ambassador to Austria

Monday 24th March 2003 Representatives from Iraqi Kurdish groups

Tuesday 27th March 2003 Lord Robertson, Secretary General of NATO

Monday 31st March 2003 HE Mr Mark Lyall Grant, High Commissioner Designate in Pakistan

Wednesday 2nd April 2003 Mr Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres, French MP and President of the French-British parliamentary friendship group

Monday 28th April 2003 Mrs Hildegard Puwak, Minister for European Integration, Government of Romania

Monday 28th April 2003 HE Sir Ivor Roberts, Ambassador to Italy

Tuesday 29th April 2003 HE Sir Francis Richards, Governor of Gibraltar

Wednesday 7th May 2003 Czech Republic Foreign Affairs Committee

Thursday 8th May 2003 Mrs Lenoir, French Minister for Europe

Thursday 8th May 2003 Mrs Chtioui, Tunisian Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs

Monday 12th May 2003 Dr Charles Murigande, Rwandan Minister of Foreign Affairs

Tuesday 13th May 2003 Members of the Canadian Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade

Tuesday 13th May 2003 The Most Reverend Pius Ncobe, Archbishop of Bulawayo (RC)

Thursday 15th May 2003 Parliamentary delegation from Hungary, including Chair of the EU Integration Committee

Thursday 15th May 2003 HE Sir Peter Torry, Ambassador to Germany

Wednesday 21st May 2003 HE Sir Rob Young, High Commissioner in India

Tuesday 3rd June 2003 Igor Luksic, Deputy Foreign Minister, Serbia and Montenegro

Thursday 5th June 2003 Senator Xavier de Villepin and Mr Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres, Deputy Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, French National Assembly

Thursday 5th June 2003 Mr Cyril Svoboda, Czech Republic Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs

Wednesday 11th June 2003 Mr John Jenkins, Consul-General, Jerusalem

Thursday 12th June 2003 HE Mr Peter Ricketts, new Ambassador to NATO

Thursday 12th June 2003 HE Mrs Ilinka Mitreva, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM)

Wednesday 18th June 2003 HE General Pervez Musharraf, President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan

Thursday 26th June 2003 HE Sir Emyr Jones Parry KCMG, UK’s Permanent Representative to the UN

Thursday 26th June 2003 Mr Martin Lee, Leader of the Democratic Party, Hong Kong Legislative Council

Wednesday 2nd July 2003 UK Heads of Mission in Latin America

Thursday 10th July 2003 HE Sir David Manning, new Ambassador to the United States

Thursday 10th July 2003 Ms Julie Bishop, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Trade Policy Committee, Australia

Tuesday 10th July 2003 HE Myrna Kleopas, Cyprus High Commissioner

Tuesday 2nd September 2003 HE Shri Ranendra Sen, High Commissioner for India

Wednesday 3rd September 2003 Sir Jeremy Greenstock, UK Special Representative for Iraq

Wednesday 10th September2003 Mr Al Cumming, Specialist in Intelligence and National Security, Congressional Research Service

Wednesday 10th September 2003 HE Mr Sherard Cowper-Coles, Ambassador-designate, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Wednesday 10th September 2003 Dr Sa’eb Erekat, former Palestinian Minister of Negotiation Affairs

Monday 13th October 2003 HE Dr Maleeha Lodhi, High Commissioner for Pakistan

Monday 27th October 2003 Foreign Affairs Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference

Wednesday 29th October 2003 South African Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Foreign Affairs

Monday 3rd November 2003 Mr Riaz Fatyana, Chairman of Human Rights Commission, Pakistan Parliament

Monday 3rd November 2003 Mr Kurshid Kasuri, Foreign Minister of Pakistan

Wednesday 5th November 2003 HE Mr Colin Munroe, Ambassador Designate to OSCE

Monday 17th November 2003 Mr Wang Zhaoguo, Vice-Chairman of the Chinese National People’s Congress

Tuesday 18th November 2003 Wolfgang Schäuble, Deputy Chairman, CDU opposition and Foreign Affairs spokesperson, Germany

Tuesday 18th November 2003 Mr Scott Ritter, former UN weapons inspector in Iraq

Session 2003–04

Wednesday 26th November 2003 HE Sir Emyr Jones Parry, Permanent Representative to the UN

Wednesday 26th November 2003 Sir Hilary Synnott, Head of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Southern Iraq

Monday 1st December 2003 HE Rosalind Marsden, Ambassador to Afghanistan

Monday 1st December 2003 Ali Said Abdella, Eritrean Foreign Minister

Tuesday 2nd December 2003 Mr Chris Mullin MP, Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Wednesday 3rd December 2003 Mr Assad Shoman, Chief Foreign Affairs Representative, Belize

Monday 8th December 2003 Dr Yuval Shteinitz, Chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee

Tuesday 9th December 2003 HE Mr Fisseha Adugna, Ethiopian Ambassador

Wednesday 10th December 2003 HE Mr Josip Paro, Croatian Ambassador

Wednesday 10th December 2003 Sir Jeremy Greenstock, UK Special Representative for Iraq

Wednesday 17th December 2003 Chairman and Members of the Iraqi Interim Governing Council

Annex 2

Oral evidence sessions

From the start of the current Parliament to the end of 2003, the Committee has held 66 oral evidence sessions:

Session 2001–02

Date Inquiry and witnesses

30 October 2001 British-US Relations Mr James Rubin, Former US Assistant Secretary of State, Professor Michael Clarke, Centre for Defence Studies, Kings College, London, and Professor Fred Halliday, Professor of International Relations, London School of Economics

20 November 2001 British-US Relations Rt Hon Jack Straw MP, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Mr Stephen Wright CMG, Deputy Under- Secretary of State, Mr Peter Ricketts, Political Director, and Mr Richard Wilkinson, Director, Americas, Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Foreign Policy Aspects of the War against Terrorism Rt Hon Jack Straw MP, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Mr Stephen Wright CMG, Deputy Under- Secretary of State, Mr Peter Ricketts, Political Director, and Mr Richard Wilkinson, Director, Americas, Foreign and Commonwealth Office

28 November 2001 Gibraltar Hon Peter Caruana QC, Chief Minister of the Government of Gibraltar, and Rt Hon Peter Hain MP, Minister for Europe, Foreign and Commonwealth Office

5 December 2001 Zimbabwe Rt Hon Jack Straw MP, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and Mr Mark Lyall Grant, Director, Africa, Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Laeken European Council Rt Hon Jack Straw MP, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and Mr Kim Darroch, Director, European Union, Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Foreign Policy Aspects of the War against Terrorism Rt Hon Jack Straw MP, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, and Mr Stephen Wright CMG, Deputy Under- Secretary of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office

12 December 2001 Zimbabwe Baroness Amos MP of Lords, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State and Mr Andrew Pocock, Head of Africa Department (Southern), Foreign and Commonwealth Office

22 January 2002 Foreign Policy Aspects of the War against Terrorism Mr Paul Bergne OBE; Professor Paul Wilkinson; and Mr Michael Keating and Mr Andrew Gilmour, UNSCO

30 January 2002 Human Rights Annual Report 2001 Peter Hain MP, Minister of State, Dr Carolyn Browne, Head, Human Rights Policy Department, and Ms Nicola Brewer, Director, Global Issues, Foreign and Commonwealth Office

5 February 2002 Turkey Dr William Hale, Director, Political Studies Department, School of Oriental and African Studies, Dr Philip Robins, Faculty Fellow and University Lecturer, Middle East Politics, Middle East Centre, St Anthony's College, Oxford, and Mr William Park, Senior Lecturer and Research Associate, Centre for Defence Studies, King's College, London

12 February 2002 Turkey Mr Michael Leigh, Director of Directorate C and Head of Turkey Unit, Enlargement Directorate-General, European Commission; Mr David Barchard; and Dr Heidi Wedel and Mr Tim Hancock, Amnesty International..

26 February 2002 Foreign Policy Aspects of the War against Terrorism Dr Rosemary Hollis, Head of the Middle East Programme, Chatham House, and Mr Philip Stephens, Journalist, Financial Times

13 March 2002 Barcelona European Council Rt Hon Jack Straw MP, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, and Mr Kim Darroch CMG, Director, European Union, Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Turkey Rt Hon Jack Straw MP, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Mr Peter Ricketts CMG, Political Director and Mr John Macgregor CVO, Director for Wider Europe, Foreign and Commonwealth Office

21 March 2002 Strategic Export Controls Annual Report for 2000, Licensing Policy and Prior Parliamentary Scrutiny Rt Hon Jack Straw MP, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Mr William Ehrman, Director, International Security, and Mr Tim Dowse, Head of Non-Proliferation Department, Foreign and Commonwealth Office

23 April 2002 Foreign Policy Aspects of the War Against Terrorism Mr Ben Bradshaw MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Mr Christopher Prentice, Head of Middle East and North Africa Department, Mr Edward Chaplin, Director for Middle East and North Africa Department and Mr William Ehrman, Director for International Security, Foreign and Commonwealth Office

30 April 2002 Zimbabwe Mr Fergal Keane OBE, BBC News Special Correspondent, and Mr Richard Dowden, Writer on African Affairs

7 May 2002 FCO Annual Report 2002 Mr Mark Byford, Director, Mr Nigel Chapman, Deputy Director, and Mr Andrew Hind, Finance and Business Development Director, BBC World Service; Baroness Kennedy of the Shaws, Chairman, Mr David Green, Director General, and Mr Andrew Fotheringham, Director, Planning Research and Evaluation, The British Council

14 May 2002 Zimbabwe Baroness Amos, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Mr Mark Lyall Grant, Director for Africa, and Mr Jon Elliott, Head of Zimbabwe Section, Africa Department (Southern), Foreign and Commonwealth Office

11 June 2002 The Green Paper on Private Military Companies Lt. Colonel Tim Spicer OBE, Head of Strategic Consulting International, Mr Michael Bilton, and Mr David Stewart Howitt, Global Dimensions Programme, London School of Economics

13 June 2002 The Green Paper on Private Military Companies Dr Denis MacShane MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office

18 June 2002 The Inter-Governmental Conference 2004 Ms Gisela Stuart MP, and Rt Hon David Heathcoat-Amory MP

19 June 2002 Gibraltar Rt Hon Jack Straw MP, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, and Mr James Bevan, Director, South-East Europe and Gibraltar, Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Seville European Council Rt Hon Jack Straw MP, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, and Mr Kim Darroch, Director, European Union, Foreign and Commonwealth Office

16 July 2002 FCO Annual Report Sir Michael Jay KCMG, Permanent Under-Secretary of State, Mr Peter Collecott CMG, Chief Clerk, Mr Simon Gass CMG, Director of Resources and Mr Alan Charlton CMG, Director of Personnel, Foreign and Commonwealth Office

25 September 2002 Foreign Policy Aspects of the War against Terrorism Rt Hon Jack Straw MP, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Mr Edward Chaplin, Director, Middle East/North Africa, Mr William Ehrman, Director, International Security, and Dr David Kelly, Adviser to Non-Proliferation Department, Foreign and Commonwealth Office

22 October 2002 Biological Weapons Green Paper Mr Tim Dowse, Head, Non-Proliferation Department, and Mr Patrick Lamb, Deputy Head, Non-Proliferation Department, Foreign and Commonwealth Office

24 October 2002 Foreign Policy Aspects of the War against Terrorism Dr John Chipman, Director, Mr Steven Simon, Assistant Director and Dr Gary Samore, Senior Fellow for Non-Proliferation, International Institute of Strategic Studies; Professor Ian Brownlie CBE, QC, FBA, Chichele Professor of Public International Law, London School of Economics; and Lord Wright of Richmond GCMG, and Sir Harold Walker KCMG.

28 October 2002 Foreign Policy Aspects of the War against Terrorism Rt Hon Jack Straw MP, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Mr Peter Ricketts CMG, Political Director, and Mr Tim Dowse, Head, Non-Proliferation Department, Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Session 2002–03

14 November 2002 Prague NATO Summit Rt Hon Jack Straw MP, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Mr Peter Ricketts CMG, Political Director, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and Air Commodore Dick Lacy, NATO Director, Ministry of Defence

10 December 2002 Copenhagen European Council Dr Denis MacShane, Minister for Europe, Mr Peter Ricketts CMG, Political Director and Mr Simon Featherstone, Head, European Union Department (External), Foreign and Commonwealth Office

7 January 2003 Human Rights Annual Report 2002 Ms Kate Allen, Director, Mr Tim Hancock, Parliamentary Officer, Amnesty International and Mr Steven Crawshaw, Director, London Office, Human Rights Watch

21 January 2003 Zimbabwe Mr Peter Longworth CMG, Former High Commissioner to Zimbabwe, Ms Georgina Godwin, SW Radio Africa, and Mr Joe Winter, BBC World Service

28 January 2003 Human Rights Annual Report 2002 Mr Bill Rammell MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ms Philippa Drew, Director, Global Issues, and Mr Jon Benjamin, Head, Human Rights Policy Department, Foreign and Commonwealth Office

4 February 2003 Foreign Policy Aspects of the War against Terrorism Sir Michael Jay KCMG, Permanent Under-Secretary of State, Mr Dickie Stagg CMG, Director, Information, Mr Rob Macaire, Head, Counter Terrorism Policy Department, and Mr Edward Chaplin CMG, Director, Middle East/North Africa, Foreign and Commonwealth Office

11 February 2003 Foreign Policy Aspects of the War against Terrorism Dr Ali Ansari, Lecturer, University of Durham; Mr Steven Crawshaw, Director and Ms Elahé Sharifpour-Hicks, Researcher on Iran, Human Rights Watch; and Dr Gary Samore, Director of Studies, International Institute for Strategic Studies

27 February 2003 Strategic Export Controls: Annual Report for 2001, Licensing Policy and Parliamentary Scrutiny Rt Hon Jack Straw MP, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, and Mr Tim Dowse, Head of Non-Proliferation Department, Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

4 March 2003 Foreign Policy Aspects of the War against Terrorism Rt Hon Jack Straw MP, Secretary of State, Mr Peter Ricketts CMG, Director General, Political, and Mr Rob Macaire, Head, Counter Terrorism Policy Department, Foreign and Commonwealth Office

25 March 2003 Zimbabwe Baroness Amos, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Dr Andrew Pocock, Head, Africa Department (Southern), and Mr Tony Brennan, Head, Zimbabwe Section, Africa Department (Southern), Foreign and Commonwealth Office

1 April 2003 Inter-Governmental Conference 2004 Rt Hon Peter Hain MP, Secretary of State for Wales, Government Representative on the Convention, and Mr Kim Darroch CMG, Director, European Union, Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Britain and the European Union Dr Denis MacShane MP, Minister of State for Europe, and Mr Kim Darroch CMG, Director, European Union, Foreign and Commonwealth Office

2 April 2003 The Government’s proposals for secondary legislation under the Export Control Act Mr Mike McLaughlin, Head of Government Relations, Rolls Royce Plc, Mr David Hayes, Export Control Manager, Goodrich Corporation, Mr Tim Otter, Vice-President, Business Development Smiths Detection, and Mr Brinley Salzmann, Exports Director, Defence Manufacturers’ Association, British Defence Manufacturers’ Export Licensing Group; Mr Andy McLean, Head of Communications, Saferworld, and Ms Julia Saunders, Policy Adviser on Conflict and Arms, Oxfam, UK Working Group on Arms

3 April 2003 The Government’s proposals for secondary legislation under the Export Control Act Rt Hon Patricia Hewitt MP, Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, and Mr Glyn Williams, Director, Export Control Organisation, Department of Trade and Industry

29 April 2003 Foreign Policy Aspects of the War against Terrorism Rt Hon Jack Straw MP, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Mr Peter Ricketts CMG, Director General, Political, and Mr Edward Oakden CMG, Director, International Security, Foreign and Commonwealth Office

3 June 2003 Foreign Policy Aspects of the War against Terrorism Ms Jane Corbin, BBC Journalist, Professor Paul Wilkinson, Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence, University of St Andrews, and Mr Fergal Keane, BBC Special Correspondent

10 June 2003 Thessaloniki European Council Rt Hon Jack Straw MP, Secretary of State, Mr Kim Darroch CMG, Director General, European Union, and Mr Peter Ricketts CMG, Director General, Political, Foreign and Commonwealth Office

17 June 2003 The Decision to go to War in Iraq Rt Hon Robin Cook MP; and Rt Hon Clare Short MP

Dr Gary Samore, International Institute for Strategic Studies,

18 June 2003 The Decision to go to War in Iraq Dr Thomas David Inch OBE, former Deputy Chief Scientific Officer, Porton Down, and former Chief Executive of the Royal Society of Chemistry; and Mr Terence Taylor, President and Executive Director, International Institute for Strategic Studies–US

Dame Pauline Neville Jones, former Political Director and Deputy Under-Secretary of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office

19 June 2003 The Decision to go to War in Iraq Mr Andrew Gilligan, BBC Defence Correspondent, and Mr Mark Damazer, BBC Deputy Director of News

Mr Andrew Wilkie, former Senior Adviser to the Australian Prime Minister; and Dr Ibrahim al-Marashi, Research Associate at the Centre for Non-Proliferation Studies

24 June 2003 The Decision to go to War in Iraq Rt Hon Jack Straw MP, Secretary of State, Sir Michael Jay KCMG, Permanent Under-Secretary of State, and Mr Peter Ricketts CMG, Director General, Political, Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Sir Michael Jay KCMG, Permanent Under-Secretary of State, and Mr Peter Ricketts CMG, Director General, Political, Foreign and Commonwealth Office

FCO Annual Report 2003 Sir Michael Jay KCMG, Permanent Under-Secretary of State, Mr Peter Collecott CMG, Director General, Corporate Affairs, Mr Simon Gass CMG, Director, Resources, and Mr Alan Charlton, Director, Personnel, Foreign and Commonwealth Office

25 June 2003 The Decision to go to War in Iraq Mr Alastair Campbell, Director of Communications and Strategy, 10 Downing Street

27 June 2003 The Decision to go to War in Iraq Rt Hon Jack Straw MP, Secretary of State, Mr Peter Ricketts CMG, Director General, Political, and Mr William Ehrman CMG, Director General, Defence/Intelligence, Foreign and Commonwealth Office

15 July 2003 The Decision to go to War in Iraq Dr David Kelly, Special Adviser to the Director, Counter-proliferation and arms control, Ministry of Defence

17 July 2003 The Decision to go to War in Iraq Mr Andrew Gilligan, Defence Correspondent, BBC Radio 4 Today programme

14 October 2003 FCO Annual Report 2003 Mr Peter Collecot, Director General, Corporate Affairs, Mr Julian Metcalfe, Head, Estate Strategy Unit, and Mr David Coates, Estate Modernisation Manager, Estate Strategy Unit, Foreign and Commonwealth Office

4 November 2003 Foreign Policy Aspects of the War against Terrorism Nomi Bar-Yaacov, International Institute for Strategic Studies; Dana Allin and Jonathan Stevenson, International Institute for Strategic Studies; and Nick Pelham, The Economist and Financial Times, and Peter David, Foreign Editor, The Economist

Session 2003–04

2 December 2003 Iran Rt Hon Jack Straw MP, Secretary of State, and Mr Edward Chaplin, Director, Middle East and North Africa Directorate, Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Foreign Policy Aspects of the War against Terrorism Rt Hon Jack Straw MP, Secretary of State, Mr John Sawers CMG, Director-General, Political, Mr Edward Chaplin, Director, Middle East and North Africa Directorate, and Mr Edward Oakden CMG, Director, International Security, Foreign and Commonwealth Office

9 December 2003 South Africa Professor James Barber, University of Cambridge, Professor David Simon, University of London; and Mr Jesmond Blumenfeld, Brunel University, and Mr Alastair Fraser, Action for Southern Africa

11 December 2003 Italian European Council Rt Hon Jack Straw MP, Secretary of State, Mr Kim Darroch CMG, Director-General EU Policy, and Mr John Sawers CMG, Director-General Political, Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Appendix

Correspondence between the Chairman of the Committee and the Secretary of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Letter to the Chairman of the Committee from the Secretary of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, 3 September 2003

The Government’s response to your July report on Iraq would in normal circumstances be due to be published on 7 September. However, in the special circumstances of the Hutton Inquiry I am writing to say that I think it would be inappropriate—and in some respects improper—to make such a response before Lord Hutton publishes his findings.

Rt Hon Jack Straw MP, Secretary of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, September 2003

Letter to the Secretary of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office from the Chairman of the Committee, 15 October 2003

Thank you for your letter of 3rd September, informing me of your decision to delay the Government’s response to the Committee’s Report on The Decision to go to War in Iraq until Lord Hutton has published the findings of his inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the death of Dr David Kelly.

The Committee discussed this yesterday. It believes that circumstances have changed since 3rd September in a way which should lead you to alter your decision. I set out below the factors which I and my colleagues wish you to consider.

The Hutton Inquiry has now completed hearing evidence. The parties have made their final submissions, and Lord Hutton will now compile his report based on that evidence. There are no grounds for supposing that Lord Hutton would now regard it as inappropriate or improper for the Government to publish its response to the Committee’s Report, which was compiled and released before Dr Kelly’s name came into the public arena as Andrew Gilligan’s source.

Neither do I believe that the majority of the Committee’s conclusions and recommendations are other than tangentially relevant to the matters before the Hutton Inquiry. I am strengthened in this view by the fact that the Government has continued to comment outside the Inquiry on the issues which were raised by the Committee in its Report. In the House on 11th September Geoff Hoon responded in detail to some to the

conclusions of the ISC Report31, which covered much of the same ground as the FAC. On 30th September, the Prime Minister addressed the Labour Party conference about several matters directly relevant to the Committee’s conclusions. On 3rd October, you replied in detail to questions posed by a BBC interviewer on the Iraq Survey Group’s interim report, and on Iraqi WMD, and the transcript of that interview has been placed on the FCO website under the heading “Jack Straw stands by decision to go to war in Iraq.” Only yesterday, on the floor of the House you commented on the 45-minutes claim. It is unacceptable that Ministers feel free to speak at political gatherings, in the House, and especially in media interviews, on matters which were covered in the Report, but not to respond to the Foreign Affairs Committee.

A few days after your letter of 3rd September, the Intelligence and Security Committee’s report on Iraqi WMD was published by the Prime Minister. That report contains (at Appendix B) a conclusion by conclusion commentary on the FAC Report.

Finally, whereas in early September most commentators expected Lord Hutton to make his report in November, it is clear from Lord Hutton’s most recent remarks that he is unlikely to report before the end of the year. This means that if you maintain the stance taken in your letter of 3rd September, 6 months will have elapsed between publication of the Report and of the Response. Such a delay would be very regrettable.

It appears to me and my colleagues that there is no longer—if there ever was—a convincing case for delaying the Response to our Report. I look forward to learning soon of its publication date.

Chairman of the Committee October 2003

Letter to the Chairman of the Committee from the Secretary of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, 27 October 2003

Thank you for your letter of 15 October.

I agree with you that circumstances have changed since my earlier letter. In particular, Lord Hutton has completed hearing evidence and has made clear that his findings may not now be published until the New Year.

I am therefore arranging that you should receive the response in the middle of November—I understand this timing has been discussed between officials. I am sure you will, however, understand that there may be some specific areas of the Committee’s

31 Intelligence and Security Committee Report, Iraqi Weapons of Mass Destruction – Intelligence and Assessments, Cm 5972

Report32 on which it would be wrong for us to comment before Lord Hutton publishes his findings.

Rt Hon Jack Straw MP, Secretary of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, October 2003

32 Ninth Report from the Foreign Affairs Committee, Session 2002-03, The Decision to go to War in Iraq, HC 813-I

Formal minutes

Thursday 15 January 2004

Members present: Donald Anderson, in the Chair

Mr David Chidgey Richard Ottaway Mr Eric Illsley Mr Greg Pope Andrew Mackinlay Sir John Stanley Mr John Maples Ms Gisela Stuart Mr Bill Olner

The Committee deliberated.

Draft Report (Foreign Affairs Committee Annual Report 2003), proposed by the Chairman, brought up and read.

Ordered, That the Chairman’s draft Report be read a second time, paragraph by paragraph.

Paragraphs 1 to 55 read and agreed to.

Annexes agreed to.

Resolved, That the Report be the First Report of the Committee to the House.

Ordered, That the Chairman do make the Report to the House.

Several Papers were ordered to be appended to the Report.

Ordered, That the Appendix to the Report be reported to the House.—(The Chairman.)

[Adjourned till Tuesday 27 January at 2.30pm

Reports and Evidence from the Foreign Affairs Committee since 2001

The following reports and evidence have been produced in the present Parliament.

Session 2003–04 WRITTEN EVIDENCE Written Evidence The Biological Weapons Green Paper HC 113 Written Evidence Private Military Companies HC 115 Written Evidence Turkey HC 116

Session 2002–03 REPORTS Twelfth Report Foreign & Commonwealth Office Annual HC 859 Report 2003 Eleventh Report Gibraltar HC 1024 (Cm 5954) Tenth Report Foreign Policy Aspects of the War against HC 405 (Cm 5986) Terrorism Ninth Report The Decision to go to War in Iraq HC 813 (Cm 6062) Eighth Report Zimbabwe HC 339 (Cm 5869) Seventh Report Strategic Export Controls: Annual Report for HC 474 (Cm 5943) 2001, Licensing Policy and Parliamentary Scrutiny Sixth Report The Government’s proposals for secondary HC 620 (Cm 5988) legislation under the Export Control Act Fifth Report The Biological Weapons Green Paper HC 671 (Cm 5857) Fourth Report Human Rights Annual Report 2002 HC 257 (Cm 5320) Third Report Foreign Affairs Committee Annual Report 2002 HC 404 Second Report Foreign Policy Aspects of the War against HC 196 (Cm 5739) Terrorism First Report The Biological Weapons Green Paper HC 150 (Cm 5713) First Special Report Evidence from Mr Andrew Gilligan to the HC 1044 Committee's Inquiry into the Decision to go to War in Iraq MINUTES OF EVIDENCE Evidence The Thessaloniki European Council HC 774-i Evidence Developments in the European Union HC 607-i Evidence The Inter-Governmental Conference 2004: The HC 606-i Convention on the Future of Europe Evidence The Copenhagen European Council HC 176–i Evidence The Prague NATO Summit HC 66–i

Session 2001–02 REPORTS Twelfth Report FCO Annual Report 2002 HC 826 (Cm 5712) Eleventh Report Gibraltar HC 973 (Cm 5714) Tenth Report Zimbabwe HC 813 (Cm 5608) Ninth Report Private Military Companies HC 922 (Cm 5642) Eighth Report Strategic Export Controls: Annual Report for HC 718 (Cm 5629) 2000, Licensing Policy and Prior Parliamentary Scrutiny (Quadripartite Committee) Seventh Report Foreign Policy Aspects of the War against HC 384 (Cm 5589) Terrorism Sixth Report Turkey HC 606 (Cm 5529) Fifth Report Human Rights Annual Report 2001 HC 589 (Cm 5509) Fourth Report Zimbabwe HC 456 Third Report Laeken European Council HC 435 Second Report British-US Relations HC 327 (Cm 5372) First Report Gibraltar HC 413 First Special Appointment of Parliamentary HC 509 Report Representatives to the Convention on the Future of Europe MINUTES OF EVIDENCE Evidence The Inter-Governmental Conference 2004: HC 965–i The Convention on the Future of Europe Evidence The Barcelona European Council HC 698–i

The reference to the Government response to the report is printed in brackets after the HC printing number