§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what report he has received from the official UK participants in the Friends of Europe Conference of 9 March in Brussels; and what contribution was made by the UK participants. [118021]
§ Mr. VazThe British Ambassador to Belgium, Mr. David Colvin, attended part of the Friends of Europe Conference on 9 March as an observer. He did not address the Conference and no report was made.
§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will place in the Library a copy of his speech of 27 March, in Portsmouth, on the role of Governments in promoting Europe. [118024]
§ Mr. VazMy right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary did not attend the Council of Europe Parliamentary and Public Relations Committee visit to Portsmouth from 25–28 March.
§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many responses he has received to the Your Britain, Your Europe questionnaire; what proportion this represents of those distributed; and what the results are. [118022]
§ Mr. VazWe received only a small number of replies to the short questionnaire attached to the "Your Britain, Your Europe" leaflet that accompanied my roadshow. The formal responses represented a small percentage of the seven thousand leaflets distributed, though many more people expressed their support at the time. We therefore decided not to draw any conclusions from such a small sample of written replies.
§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is the purpose of the publication, "Six Years of Change: How Funding From the European Union has Helped the North West 1994–99"; what was the cost of producing it; how many copies were distributed; what contribution was made to it by his Department; and if he will make a statement on his policy on the political neutrality in respect of information about the costs and benefits of EU membership in such publications. [118028]
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§ Mr. VazThe Foreign and Commonwealth Office did not make a financial contribution to this publication. For further details I refer the hon. Member to the Director of the Government Office for the North-west.
§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what was the(a) nature and (b) cost of official representation at the Britain in Europe event in Brussels, on 22 March. [118026]
§ Mr. VazSome officials from the UK's Permanent Representation to the European Union attend the reception on the evening of 22 March. This entailed no official cost.