§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many Commission staff will receive clearance, in accordance with 1999/218/EC (Official Journal L80, 25.3.99), for access to(a) confidential, (b) secret and (c) top secret material; what categories of information are covered; what is his policy thereto; what contribution to screening Government agencies will make, and at what cost; and if he will make a statement. [81043]
§ Ms QuinCommission Decision 1999/218/EC extends Decision C(94)3282 of 30 November 1994 on the security vetting of European Commission staff to cover documents relating to the Common Foreign and Security Policy. It does not affect the security clearance of staff already working for the Commission.
There have been no applications to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (which is responsible for the security vetting of all UK nationals directly recruited to work at the Commission) by the European Commission for the security clearance of UK nationals since the publication of Commission Decision 1999/218/EC. It is expected that the numbers of Commission staff cleared by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office each year will remain the same (ie six or seven a year). Similarly, the Commission do not expect the overall number of their staff requiring security clearance to rise significantly.
The vetting procedures set out in Commission Decision 1999/218/EC are applicable to classified information held by the Commission, including that relating to the Common Foreign and Security Policy of the European Union. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office are usually asked to clear Commission staff to see up to and including Secret material. The cost of security vetting is approximately £11 for Confidential clearance and £149 for Secret clearance.