HC Deb 15 July 2003 vol 409 cc175-6W
Mr. Bercow

To ask the Minister of State, Department for International Development if he will list(a) the names, titles and grades of the officials who sit on the EU committee on implementation of humanitarian aid operations, (b) the number of times, and the dates, on which it has met since January 2002, (c) the agenda items it has considered since January 2002, (d) the decisions it has made since January 2002 and (e) the means used to communicate the decisions to the House. [110308]

Hilary Benn

The European Community's Humanitarian Aid Committee (HAC) does not have a fixed membership, but consists of delegates drawn from each of the 15 European member states. The HAC meets on average once a month, excluding August (and often December). In addition to this, each Presidency usually holds an informal HAC to discuss issues of substance in more detail. Including both formal and informal HACs there have been 19 meetings since January 2002.

The Department for International Development usually sends one or two delegates to the HAC, drawn from our Conflict and Humanitarian Affairs Department or our regional departments.

At the HAC meetings, member states review the Annual Global Plans (large scale humanitarian country strategies) and Decisions (less detailed, smaller scale humanitarian programmes) drawn up by the European Commission Humanitarian Office (ECHO) for ongoing humanitarian assistance to countries, regions, or specific population groups. ECHO also uses the HAC to inform member states of decisions taken under ECHO's own delegated authority both. on its smallest programmes, and on those taken under the Primary Emergency Procedures for rapid disbursement (recent examples include Iraq, Algeria and the Palestinian Territories). In November of each year, ECHO presents its overall strategy for the following year for discussion by member states. ECHO also presents at various times during the year procedural and thematic papers on various aspects of EC assistance for member state's information and comment.

The role of the Humanitarian Aid Committee is to oversee the powers delegated to the European Commission by the European Council of Ministers. As with all Comitology Committees, documents circulated at the HAC are not routinely deposited for scrutiny under established scrutiny procedures, unless they are politically significant. Since January 2002 DFID has deposited for scrutiny the European Commission Humanitarian Aid Office's Annual Report for 2001 (COM (2002) 322 FINAL).

Together with member states, the Commission has been 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".

The Working Group on the Friends of Comitology is meeting later this month to discuss proposals for interim reform.

As an obligation to this Decision, the Commission undertook to publish an annual report on the working of the Committee. The second report was deposited in the Libraries of both Houses on 10 January 2003, ref 5060/03, COM(03)733.

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.