§ Mr. George Rodgersasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will make a statement on the meeting of the European Community Standing Committee on employment on 5th May 1977, at which Her Majesty's Government were represented.
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§ Mr. John GrantI represented the United Kingdom Government at this meeting in Brussels which was chaired by my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Employment. The agenda for the eleventh meeting of the Standing Committee covered three important items in the field of social affairs: employment prospects in the Community to 1980, the review of the European Social Fund and the co-ordination of the Community's financial instruments. There was a full and useful discussion of the first and second items based on papers prepared by the Commission. For the third item the Standing Committee received a communication from Commissioner Giolitti on the co-ordination of financial instruments in the Community.