§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the mandate is of the Advisory Committee on the implementation of the Community Action Programme to combat social exclusion; 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. [55231]
§ Malcolm WicksI have been asked to reply.
The Programme Committee set up pursuant to Decision No. 50/2002/EC of 7 December 2001, establishing a programme of Community action to encourage co-operation between member states to combat social exclusion, is mandated to assist the Commission in implementing that Decision. It has met three times (once on an informal basis as it predated the coming into legal force of the Decision) over the last 12 months. The UK was represented by either one or two officials from the Department for Work and Pensions at these meetings. Costs to UK public funds were limited to their expenses, approximately £2,650, less reimbursements provided by the Commission. There are no items currently under consideration by the Programme Committee.
556WThe first annual report by the Commission required by Council Decision 1999/468/EC on the working of committees was deposited in the Libraries of both Houses on 26 February 2002 (Commission Document COM (2001) 783 Final). 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 Deputy Prime Minister what the mandate of the Committee for the implementation of the action programme to promote gender equality 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. [55238]
§ Mrs. RocheThe legal basis for the fifth action programme (2001–05) is Article 13 of the Treaty and Council Decision 2001/51/EC of 20 December 2000. The programme is one of the components of the overall Community strategy on gender equality (which embraces a range of Community policies and action aimed at achieving gender equality), including both mainstreaming gender into general policies and targeting specific actions towards women.
The committee which implements the programme is composed of member states' representatives. The current UK nominee is the responsible official in the Cabinet Office's Women arid Equality Unit. It has met three times during the last 12 months. As per Article 6 of the Council Decision establishing the programme, the committee's agenda includes:
the general guidelines for the implementation of the programme;the annual plan of work for the implementation of the programme's actions;the financial support to be supplied by the Community;the annual budget and the distribution of funding between the various actions of the programme;the procedures for selecting the actions to be supported by the Community and the draft list of actions to receive such support submitted by the Commission;the criteria for monitoring and evaluating the programme, in particular its costs-effectiveness, and the arrangements for the dissemination of results.The funds of the fifth action programme are made available by the commission to member states and to individual contractors. The programme has a financial reference amount for the period 2001–05 of 50 million euro, and a budget line of around 10 million euro/year.
Travel costs for officials attending committee meetings are reimbursed by the European Commission; subsistence costs average less than £250 per year.
The principles and conditions concerning public access to the committee's documents (Article 13 of the rules of procedure for the committee) are the same as those applying to commission documents. The European Scrutiny Committee receives Explanatory Memoranda about work undertaken under this programme.
Together with member states, the commission is currently conducting a review to bring existing legislation on the conduct of committees into line with Council 557W 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 (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.