§ Lord Bethellasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they will list the names of the Board of Governors of the Westminster Foundation for Democracy; whether they will indicate by what criteria these people were selected for appointment; and whether they will indicate what projects have been approved so far, with details in each case.
The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office(Baroness Chalker of Wallasey): The Board of Governors of the Foundation are:
Mr. Robert Cooper, MVO, Head of Policy Planning Staff at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, is a non-voting advisory member of the board.
- Sir James Spicer, MP, (Chairman)
- Mr. George Robertson, MP, and
- Sir Russell Johnston, MP, (Vice-Chairmen)
- Mr. Tony Clarke
- Mrs. Margaret Ewing, MP
- Professor Peter Frank
- Mr. Timothy Garton Ash
- Lady Howe, JP
- Mr. Gavin Laird, CBE
- Mr. Ralph Land, MP
- Mr. Patrick Nicholls, MP
- Dr. Michael Pinto-Duschinsky
- Mr. Ian Taylor, MP
- Ms. Carole Tongue, MEP
The governors are appointed by my right honourable friend the Foreign Secretary. In establishing the foundation, the Government held consultations with the political parties represented at Westminster and agreed that eight of the governors (three Conservative; three Labour; one Liberal Democrat; and one from the other parties) should be nominated by the political parties. The other six, drawn from business, trade unions, academies, and the non-governmental sector were also appointed following consultation with the political parties.
With respect to the third part of the question, the Westminster Foundation's operations are independent of the government and questions relating to projects should be addressed directly to the foundation.