§ Mr. Simon ThomasTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many responses to the DTI public consultation on GATS were received; how many of these responses expressed concern about the(a) transparency and (b) democracy of the OATS process; how many of these responses expressed other concerns about the OATS process; and how many of the responses received called for a halt to the GATS process. [101397]
§ Ms HewittWe received 792 responses to our consultation on the GATS negotiations. Over 600 were individual replies from members of the public mainly in the form of standard letters organised by certain nongovernmental organisations, as well as another 34 from NGOs themselves and one from two Members of the European Parliament, raising concerns such as those referred to by the hon. Member. The remainder were from business organisations, local authorities, health462W and education organisations, student associations and one from an hon. Member, raising points on specific issues or sectors.