Dr. Tony WrightTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development which of the advisory non-departmental public bodies sponsored by her Department(a) admit members of the public to all board or committee meetings, (b) hold public meetings and (c) have lay or consumer representatives on their boards; and if in each case this is under a statutory requirement. [69968]
§ Clare Short[holding answer 10 February 1999)The information is as follows:
- (a) Admission of members of the public:
- Members of the public may be admitted to meetings of the Know How Fund Advisory Board, ordinarily at the request of Board members, but individual requests by the public to attend would be considered on their merits. It has not been the practice to admit members of the public to meetings of other advisory bodies. There are no statutory requirements to do so.
- (b) Public meetings:
- It has not generally been the practice to hold public meetings principally because of the nature of the remit or the scope and size of the bodies in question. However, my Department has recently conducted a series of Regional Policy Forums culminating in a National forum to which members of the public were invited and which have contributed to the deliberations of the Development Awareness Working Group. There are no statutory requirements to hold public meetings.
- (c) Lay/Consumer representatives:
- The following bodies have either lay or consumer representatives:
- The Development Awareness Working Group
- The Indian Family Pensions Fund Body of Commissioners
11 - The Overseas Service Pensions Scheme Advisory Board
- The Know How Fund Advisory Board
There are no statutory requirements to appoint lay or consumer representatives.
Dr. Tony WrightTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development which of the executive non-departmental public bodies sponsored by her Department(a) admit members of the public to all board or committee meetings, (b) hold public meetings, (c) have lay or consumer representatives on their boards and (d) operate some form of appeal or complaints procedure; and if in each case this is under a statutory requirement. [69977]
§ Clare Short[holding answer 10 February 1999]We do not admit members of the public to meetings of the Commonwealth Scholarships Commission and the Crown Agents Holding & Realisation Board and neither of these organisations hold public meetings of those bodies. The nature of their remit is not such as to require lay or consumer representation or an appeal/complaints procedure and there are no statutory requirements to do so.
Dr. Tony WrightTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development which of the executive non-departmental public bodies sponsored by her Department publish(a) the minutes of meetings, (b) the agendas of meetings and documents for those meetings and (c) a register of members' interests; and if in each case this is under a statutory requirement. [69946]
§ Clare Short[holding answer 10 February 1999]Minutes of meetings of the Commonwealth Scholarships Commission are available on request but the minutes, agenda and other papers are not routinely published. A register of members' interests is currently being compiled.
The Crown Agents Holding & Realisation Board does not satisfy the terms of the question but is expected to be wound up in the near future.
There are no statutory requirements of this nature.
12W
a) Contracts awarded to KPMG since 1 May 1997 Project title Country Value (£) Personnel Controls and Information Systems Uganda 113,902 Salaries Review Commission—implementation Lesotho 379,950 Evaluation of company database Hungary 69,488 Public sector development programme: phase 2 Grenada 533,775 Anguilla public sector development programme Anguilla 77,474 Caribbean Drugs Initiative: training study formulation Caribbean Regional 24,910 Emergency assessment of public sector resourcing requirements Montserrat 28,590 Strengthening government finance and accounting functions Kenya 79,120 Job evaluation and grading implementation South Africa, Republic of 23,500 Preparation of Project Memorandum Turks and Caicos Islands 33,330 Job evaluation implementation project South Africa, Republic of 295,860 Taxation reform Yemen, Republic of 550,158 Extension: Salaries Review Commission Lesotho 163,560 World Bank/DFID institutional specialist Ethiopia 28,448 Strengthening of Presidential efficiency unit: phase II Colombia 369,865 Support to the government of Kenya in the development of medium term strategy for Civil Service Reform Kenya 75,830 Public Sector Development Project—value for money studies Dominica 307,650 Assistance on rating insurance companies Russia 9,306 Lesotho police rank structure review Lesotho 37,540 Caribbean Drugs Initiative: Training Implementation Caribbean Regional 24,620 Brazil—value for money audit Brazil 496,805
Dr. Tony WrightTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development which of the executive non-departmental public bodies sponsored by her Department have a statutory base; and which are subject to investigation by the Parliamentary Commissioner. [69913]
§ Clare Short[holding answer 10 February 1999]The Crown Agents Holding and Realisation Board was established under the authority of the Crown Agents Act 1979. Statutory provision for the operations of the Commonwealth Scholarships Commission is made in the Overseas Development and Co-operation Act 1980. Neither fall within the remit of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration.