HC Deb 06 November 2001 vol 374 c184W
Mr. Grieve

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the dates of the European Union meetings attended by Ministers in his Department from 1 January onwards, indicating what issues were discussed at each meeting.[11753]

Mr. Blunkett

There have been two formal Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) Councils and one informal JHA Council under the Swedish Presidency, and four formal JHA Councils and one joint JHA/Ecofin Council under the Belgian Presidency since 1 January.

With regard to the Councils under the Swedish Presidency, I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave the hon. Member for Buckingham (Mr. Bercow) on 25 June 2001, Official Report, column 46W.

Under the Belgian Presidency, Ministers from my Department have attended the following Justice and Home Affairs Council meetings: a special JHA Council on 13 July which my hon. Friend the Member for Conventry, North-East (Mr. Ainsworth) attended; a special Council on 20 September in response to the terrorist attacks on the United States, which I attended; a Council meeting on 27–28 September which I, together with my hon. Friend the Member for Wallasey (Angela Eagle) attended; and a joint JHA/Ecofin Council followed by a JHA Council on 16 October which my right hon. Friend the Minister for Police, Courts and Drugs attended. Copies of the agendas of these Council meetings will be placed in the Library. The Government reported the outcome of these meetings to the European Scrutiny Committee in accordance with the usual arrangements.

In addition, my hon. Friend the Member for Wallasey attended the Belgian Presidency's Ministerial Conference on Migration, held in the European Parliament on 16–17 October.