§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what the mandate of the Standing Committee on Medicinal Products for Human Use is; how many times it has met over the last 12 months; what the UK representation on it is; what the annual cost of its work is to public funds; if he will list the items currently under its consideration; if he will take steps to increase its accountability and transparency to Parliament; and if he will make a statement. [55369]
§ Mr. LammyThe standing committee on medicinal products for human use is a regulatory committee which assists the European Commission (EC) in exercising its powers of implementation and facilitates the adoption of draft measures in the field of medicinal products for human use. It also adopts decisions on centralised marketing authorisation applications and other regulatory actions referred to it by the European medicines evaluation agency (EMEA). It operates mainly by written procedures as set out in legislation. It meets only exceptionally, either on the chairman's initiative or at the reasoned request of the representative of a member state. The committee last met on 23 March 2000. The UK is represented by the chief executive of the Medicines Control Agency (MCA) or his deputy and, as MCA is a trading fund of the Department, no cost to public funds is generally incurred in supporting the committee's work.
Together with member states, the EC is currently conducting a review to bring existing legislation on the conduct of comitology committees into line with Council Decision 1999/468/EC, to
simplify the requirements for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission".As an obligation under this decision, the Commission undertook to publish an annual report of the working of committees. The first report was deposited in the Libraries of both Houses on 26 February 2002 (Corn (2001) 783 Final). As part of the review process, the UK Government have encouraged the Commission to produce and maintain an electronic database of every comitology committee, its agendas and recent actions, to be accessible through its website.
§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what the mandate of the Pharmaceutical Committee is; how many times it has met over the last 12 months; what the UK representation on it is; what the annual cost of its work is to public funds; if he will list the items currently under its consideration; if he will take steps to increase its accountability and transparency to Parliament; and if he will make a statement. [55371]
§ Mr. LammyThe pharmaceutical committee fulfils a useful role in that it provides a forum for European Union member states to exchange views and information. Its task1210W is to assist the European Commission (EC) and to examine:
any question relating to the application of directives on proprietary medicinal products which are brought up by its chairman—either on his initiative or at the request of the representative of a member state;any other question in the field of proprietary medicinal products brought up by its chairman—either on his initiative or at the request of the representative of a member state.The EC consults the committee when preparing proposals for, or amendments to, directives in the field of proprietary medicinal products. During 2001 the committee met on 5 April, 5 July and 16 November, and in 2002 it met on 14 May. The pharmaceutical committee network on bioterrorism was an ad hoc group which met twice, on 23 January 2002 and 20 February 2002. No further meetings of the network are planned.The UK is represented jointly by two senior public health officials from the Medicines Control Agency (MCA) and the Department. The EC reimburses travel and subsistence costs for one delegate from each member state. The annual cost of the committee's work to public funds varies according to the number of meetings held and make-up of the UK representation. The MCA provides the main Government support for the work of the committee and usually represents the UK. As the MCA is a trading fund of the Department, this incurs no cost to public funds. If a Department official attends with the MCA delegation, his/her expenses will be borne out of public funds. This has happened twice in the last 12 months and the amount of travel and subsistence involved was in the region of £860.00.
Information about associated costs to public funds attributable to the Department, other than travel and subsistence, is not readily available and would incur disproportionate cost to identify.
The committee considers a wide range of issues relating to medicines regulatory matters and a summary of its discussions is put on the EC's website after each meeting. Further details and documents are available from the EC on request.
§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what the mandate of the Committee for the implementation of the Community action programme on the prevention of drug dependence in the framework of the action plans for public health is; how many times it has met over the last 12 months; what the United Kingdom representation on it is; what the annual cost of its work is to public funds; if he will list the items currently under its consideration; if he will take steps to increase its accountability and transparency to Parliament; and if he will make a statement. [57479]
§ Ms BlearsThe EU Committee for the implementation of the Community action programme on the prevention of drug dependence was mandated under Article 5 of Decision 102/97/EC of the European Parliament and the Council (amended under Article 4 of Decision 521/2001/EC). The committee assisted the Commission in taking forward the programme by providing opinions on proposed measures by the Commission. It is due to terminate with the introduction of the new EU action programme on public health.
1211WThe committee met once in the last year, in January 2002. The United Kingdom is normally represented by an official from the Department.
Costs of the committee to public funds are minimal. Meetings last one day and the Commission pays the travel costs of nominated representatives. UK Departments are required to pay subsistence and UK travel costs.
The financial framework for implementation of the Community action programme on the prevention of drug dependence, from 1 January 2002 to 31 December 2002, is euro 5.38 million.
The Commission has now decided which projects it will fund. This list will be published on the Department's website.
Together with member states, the Commission is currently conducting a review to bring existing legislation on the conduct of comitology committees into line with Council Decision 1999/468/EC, to "simplify the requirements for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission".
As an obligation to this Decision, the Commission undertook to publish an annual report on the working of committees. The first report was deposited in the Libraries of both Houses on 26 February 2002 (Com [2001] 783 Final).
As part of the review process, the UK Government have encouraged the Commission to produce and maintain an electronic database of every comitology committee, its agendas and recent actions, to be accessible through its website http://europa.eu.int/comm/health/index en.html.
§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what the mandate of the Committee for the implementation of the Community action programme on health monitoring in the framework of the action plan for public health is; how many times it has met over the last 12 months; what the United Kingdom representation on it is; what the annual cost of its work is to public funds; if he will list the items currently under its consideration; if he will take steps to increase its accountability and transparency to Parliament: and if he will make a statement. [57476]
§ Ms BlearsThe EU Committee for the implementation of the Community action programme on health monitoring was mandated under Article 5 of Decision 1400/97/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council. The committee assisted the Commission in taking forward the programme by providing opinions on proposed measures by the Commission. It is due to terminate with the introduction of the new EU action programme on public health. The EU health monitoring programme is focused on the establishment of a consistent, permanent and coherent community health monitoring system.
The committee met on two occasions in the last 12 months. One UK official from the Department attended the October 2001 and February 2002 meetings.
Domestic travel and subsistence claims paid from public funds were £348. The Commission reimbursed international travel costs.
1212WFull details of the health monitoring work programme—including details of all projects funded between 1998 and 2001—are presented on Europa (the EU on-line website: http://europa.eu.int/index—en.htm).
Together with member states, the Commission is currently conducting a review to bring existing legislation on the conduct of comitology committees into line with Council Decision 1999/468/EC, to
simplify the requirements for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission".As part of the review process, the UK Government have encouraged the Commission to produce and maintain an electronic database of every comitology committee, its agendas and recent actions, to be accessible through its website.