§ Mr. Hardyasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will state the 239W number of officers in his Department who have served or are serving upon committees in this country or abroad which function as part of membership activity within the EEC, with the titles of the committees involved and the principal subjects which are or have been under consideration.
§ Sir G. HoweDisproportionate time and effort would be required to compile a comprehensive answer to this Question. There are, for example, many council and commission committees and working groups, some of anad hoc nature, which have been, or are, attended by officials of the Department.
On average, about 30 officials travel to Brussels each week and many of these visits are for the purpose of attending meetings of committees or working groups; usually a smaller number of officials would be involved in formal meetings in the United Kingdom concerned with Community matters.
The principal subjects which have been, or are, under discussion are industrial policy, energy policy, technical standards, right of establishment—self-employed persons—tariffs and trade, company law, competition policy, science and technology policy, regional policy, consumer protection, industrial pollution, insurance and cinematograph films.