§ Sir Teddy TaylorTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many euro information centres operate in the United Kingdom; what was their operational budget for 1997; and what role Her Majesty's Government has in respect of preparing the contents of the material distributed. [27378]
§ Mr. Doug HendersonThere are 26 European Information Centres (EICs) in the UK. An overall figure for the EICs" operating budget is not readily available, since they receive funding from a variety of sources, including charges for some of their services. But in 1997 each UK EIC received 20,000 ecu of funding from DG842W XXIII of the European Commission. We are involved in planning the EICs" overall strategy in the UK, which centres on providing the business community (especially SMEs) with information and expert advice on operating in Europe. But we do not have a direct role in the preparation of the material they distribute, much of which comes from their own Europe-wide network.