§ Mr. Carter-Jonesasked the Secretary of State for Social Services why his Department is not represented on the ISO Technical Committee 173 on technical systems and aids for disabled persons; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. RossiParticipation in international standards work is organised by the national member body which, for the United Kingdom, is the British Standards Institution. It is for it to make decisions concerning representation on international standards committees, with advice from its own committees as appropriate.
It is not necessary to be represented on an international committee in order to contribute to the preparation of an international standard; the processes of commenting and voting on draft documents give members of BSI committees the opportunity to influence proposed standards.
ISO Technical Committee 173 is a relatively new committee and its programme of work is still being established. The United Kingdom is represented by an officer from this Department on one of its sub-committees. I understand that the BSI has observer status on the parent committee and the remaining sub-committees; this will enable decisions about further representation to be taken as and when appropriate. The Department is already heavily committed to supporting national and international standards work and we need to be sure, before making further commitments of resources, that the proposed work is likely to be useful to United Kingdom interests and that the formal and lengthy processes of international standardisation will provide the most effective way of meeting the objective.