§ Mr. MacleanTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate his Department has made of the cost of expanding the staff of the European Commission as proposed in the Commission's internal policy spending review; what grades of post are proposed; and if he will make a statement on(a) their purpose and (b) his Department's policy on the proposals. [72530]
§ Ms HewittI would expect any proposals for additional staff for the European Commission to be made in the usual way as part of the Commission's preliminary draft budget for 2000, or as a supplementary amending budget for 1999. No such proposals have been made. In assessing the merits of any proposals for new staff the Government will consider, inter alia, the priority of the tasks new staff are intended to fulfil, the extent to which redeployment has or could be used to meet additional needs, and the availability of additional resources.