He said that 10,000 Iraqi police officers have been put back on the street and that Iraq's criminal court resumed proceedings at the start of the month. The US Department of Justice has assembled an international team that was due to begin a programme for rebuilding the police, prosecution service and prison system by the end of May.

'Emergency payments have been approved for over 1 million Iraqi civil servants to facilitate their return to work and the coalition has already made those payments to more than 500,000,' he said. 'In the vital oil sector, initial production has been restored by more than 12,000 workers who have returned to work.'