HC Deb 16 December 1998 vol 322 cc598-9W
Mr. Bercow

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will place in the Library a copy of the vade-mecum for the European Communities budget line B2-5122. [64188]

Ms Quin

The vade-mecum for budget line B2-5122 can be found in Official Journal No. 44 (Volume 41) published on 16 February 1998, a copy of which is available in the House Library.

Mr. Bercow

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs for what reason European Communities budget lines (i) B3-300 and (ii) B3-301 are not broken down by member state; what elements of these budget lines are known by his Department to have been distributed in the United Kingdom; and for what purpose. [64094]

Ms Quin

The Commission is not obliged by either Regulation or Treaty to maintain its accounts broken down by Member State for budget lines B3-300 and B3-301. the Commission is also not obliged, as a matter of course, to inform Member States which individuals or organisations have received information services or devolved funding. Official Journal No. L44 (Volume 41) published on 16 February 1998, a copy of which is available in the House Library, gives an explanation of the purpose of each Community budget line.

B3-300 covers a range of information measures including opinion polling, impact assessment, sponsored visits, publications, TV productions and internet sites. B3-301 funds, in the UK, European Document Centres in university libraries (45) and European Information Centres providing business intelligence on operating in the EU (21). The information held in these various centres generally includes UK Government publications, as well as EU documents and academic and commercial literature and databases.