HC Deb 27 October 1997 vol 299 c671W
Mr. Mackinlay

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when he wrote to the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee inviting him to nominate a member to attend the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe conference in Vienna on politico-military aspects of security. [12802]

Mr. Tony Lloyd

I wrote to the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee on 30 July. I invited the Committee to nominate a representative to join the UK delegation to the conference on the code of conduct on politico-military aspects of security in Vienna from 22 to 24 September.

Mr. Mackinlay

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs for what reasons an invitation for a particular parliamentarian to attend the OSCE conference on politico-military aspects of security was addressed to the Foreign Affairs Committee and not to the OSCE delegation. [12803]

Mr. Tony Lloyd

The conference in Vienna from 22 to 24 September to review the code of conduct on politico-military aspects of security was the first such conference since the code's adoption in December 1994. I addressed the invitation to the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, rather than the UK delegation to the OSCE parliamentary assembly, because the democratic control of the military in Europe is a subject of wider, foreign affairs interest.