HC Deb 15 February 1994 vol 237 cc710-3W
Dr. Wright

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list those responsible for making appointments of(a) chairs and (b) members of the boards to each of the executive non-departmental bodies sponsored by his Department.

Mr. Goodlad

Appointments to non-departmental public bodies sponsored by the Department are made as follows:

COMMONWEALTH INSTITUTE:

  1. (a) Chairman and vice-chairman: Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
  2. (b) Board members
  1. (i) All Commonwealth high commissioners in London (ex-officio)
  2. (ii) Representatives of educational, Commonwealth, commercial and industrial interests—appointed by the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
  3. (iii) Representatives of the Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Department for Education and the Scottish Office Education Department—appointed by the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
  4. (iv) Commonwealth Secretary-General—co-opted by the board.

COMMONWEALTH FOUNDATION

  1. (a) Chairman: Appointed by heads of commonwealth Governments
  2. (b) Members of board: All high commissioners of member Commonwealth countries in London (ex-officio)

WILTON PARK ACADEMIC COUNCIL

  1. (a) Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
  2. (b) Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs

WILTON PARK DEPARTMENTAL BOARD

  1. (a) Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
  2. (b) Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs

ANGLO-IRISH ENCOUNTER

  1. (a) British Co-chairman: the Prime Minister
  2. (b) Secretary: the chairman

WESTMINSTER FOUNDATION FOR DEMOCRACY

  1. (a) The board
  2. (b) Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs

COMMONWEALTH SCHOLARSHIP COMMISSION

  1. (a) Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
  2. (b) Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs

DIPLOMATIC SERVICE APPEAL BOARD

  1. (a) Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
  2. (b) Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs

THE BRITISH COUNCIL

  1. (a) Elected by the Board of the Council with the previous approval of the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
  2. (b) The Secretary of State may nominate two board members. With these exceptions all board members are elected by the board from persons proposed in writing by two board members

THE GREAT BRITAIN-CHINA CENTRE

  1. (a) Elected by the executive committee. His or her proposed election to be approved by the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
  2. (b) The following have the right to nominate one person each to the executive committee: the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, the President of the Board of Trade, the Secretary of State for Education and the Director General of the British Council. Other members are elected by the executive committee of whom not less than five must be MPs

THE BRITAIN-RUSSIA CENTRE

  1. (a) Elected by the members of the council.
  2. (b) Elected by the members of the council, of whom not less than 10 and not more than 20 must be MPs.

BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOR CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE

  1. (a) Elected by the governing body. His or her proposed election requires the approval of the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs.
  2. (b) The following have the right to nominate one person each to the governing body: the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, the President of the Board of Trade, the Secretary of State for Education and the Director General of the British Council. Other members are elected by the Government Council of whom not less than five must be MPs.

MARHALL AID COMMEMORATION COMMISSION

(a) and (b) The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs is responsible for making all appointments.

Dr. Wright

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs for each of the non-departmental bodies sponsored by his Department, whether the public has a statutory right to attend all board or committee meetings and to inspect(a) minutes of meetings, (b) the annual reports and (c) and annual accounts.

Mr. Goodlad

The information requested is as follows:

THE BRITISH COUNCIL

The public has no statutory right to attend all board or committee meetings.

  1. (a) No.
  2. (b) and (c) The council is required to lodge basic information about itself with the Charities Commission to whom it sends its annual report and accounts.

THE GREAT BRITAIN-CHINA CENTRE

No statutory right to attend all board or committee meetings

  1. (a) No
  2. (b) Yes
  3. (c) Yes

THE CHINA-RUSSIA CENTRE

No statutory right to attend all board or committee meetings

  1. (a) No
  2. (b) Yes
  3. (c) Yes

BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOR CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE

No statutory right to attend all board or committee meetings

  1. (a) No
  2. (b) Yes
  3. (c) Yes

MARSHALL AID COMMEMORATION COMMISSION

No statutory right to attend all board or committee meetings

  1. (a) No, but those over 30 years old are available at the Public Record Office
  2. (b) and (c) Published by HMSO and available at the Public Records Office

THE ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON OVERSEAS ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL RESEARCH

No statutory right to attend board or committee meetings

  1. (a) No
  2. (b) No
  3. (c) No

INDIAN FAMILY PENSION FUNDS BODY OF COMMISSIONERS

No statutory right to attend board or committee meetings

  1. (a) No
  2. (b) No
  3. (c) No

OVERSEAS SERVICE PENSIONS SCHEME ADVISORY BOARD

No statutory right to attend board or committee meetings

  1. (a) No
  2. (b) No
  3. (c) No

DIPLOMATIC SERVICE APPEALS BOARD

No statutory right to attend board meetings, there are no committee meetings

  1. (a) No
  2. (b) There is no annual report
  3. (c) There is no expenditure

ANGLO-IRISH ENCOUNTER

No statutory right to attend board or committee meetings

  1. (a) No
  2. (b) No
  3. (c) No

WESTMINSTER FOUNDATION FOR DEMOCRACY

No statutory right to attend all board or committee meetings

  1. (a) No
    2. 713
  2. (b) Yes
  3. (c) Yes

WILTON PARK ACADEMIC COUNCIL

No statutory right to attend board or committee meetings

  1. (a) No
  2. (b) There are no annual accounts or reports
  3. (c) There are no annual accounts or reports

WILTON PARK DEPARTMENTAL BOARD

No statutory right to attend board or committee meetings

  1. (a) No
  2. (b) There are no annual accounts or reports
  3. (c) There are no annual accounts or reports

COMMONWEALTH SCHOLARSHIP COMMISSION

No statutory right to attend meetings

  1. (a) No

£ million
1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 (forecast)
Britain-Russia Centre 0.232 0.208 10.270 0.211
British Association for Central and Eastern Europe1 0.202 0.206 20.231 0.226
British Council3 329.000 301.000 2292.000 254.000
Commonwealth Institutes, London and Edinburgh 3.046 2.820 3.092 3.558
Great Britain-China Centre 0.167 0.192 0.210 0.208
Marshall Aid Commemoration Commission 0.984 1.143 1.271 1.321
Westminster Foundation for Democracy 0 0.200 21.000 1.937
Commonwealth Scholarship Commission 0.04 0.07 0.05 0.05
Note: Figures for 1994–95 and 1995–96 are not shown. The former are subject to parliamentary approval of the supply estimates. It is too early to predict future years' expenditure on individual non-departmental public bodies.
1 Includes grants-in-aid and project funding.
2 Corrected figures: those published in "Public Bodies 1993" were erroneous.
3 Includes an element for reimbursements by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office—Diplomatic Wing/Overseas Development Administration—for agency expenditure, transfers to third parties. This is broken down as follows, in 1992–93 prices:
£ million
1990–91 158
1991–92 148
1992–93 141
1993–944 118
4 Forecast.

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