HC Deb 04 July 2002 vol 388 c465W
Mr. Bercow

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what the mandate of the Advisory Committee on the development and reconversion of regions is; how many times it has met over the last 12 months; what the UK representation on it is; what the annual cost of its work is to public funds; if he will list the items currently under its consideration; if he will take steps to increase its accountability and transparency to Parliament; and if he will make a statement. [56770]

Ms Hewitt

[holding answer 15 May 2002]I have been asked to reply.

The mandate for this Committee is set out in Article 48 of Council Regulation (EC) 1260/1999 laying down general provisions on the Structural Funds. The Committee acts as a Management Committee and deals with issues arising from the implementation of the Structural Funds and particularly the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) under 12/60/1999 and related Regulations. The Committee is also mandated to act as a consultative committee to establish and revise the list of areas eligible under Objective 2, discuss the Community Support Frameworks and Single Programming Documents for Objectives 1 and 2, and discuss issues arising from the allocation of technical assistance to the programmes.

The Committee has met nine times over the last 12 months. My Department, which has co-ordinating responsibility for the Structural Funds in the UK, sends one representative to the Committee. Other Departments with responsibility for the ERDF, and the Devolved Administrations, are also invited. On average the UK's representation is three officials. It is not possible to calculate the cost to public funds of the Committee without incurring disproportionate cost.

The Committee is currently discussing a range of issues linked to implementation of the Structural Funds, particularly simplification of administration while retaining accountability and transparency.

Together with member states, the Commission is currently conducting a review to bring existing legislation on the conduct of comitology committees into line with Council Decision 1999/468/EC, to simplify the requirements for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission".

As an obligation to this decision, the Commission undertook to publish an annual report on the working of the Committees. The first report was deposited in the Libraries of both Houses on 26 February (COM(2001)783 Final).

As part of the review process, the UK Government have encouraged the Commission to produce and maintain an electronic database of every comitology Committee, its agendas and recent actions, to be accessible through its web site.