§ Mr. MitchellTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the(a) purposes, (b) duties, (c) location and (d) personnel of the Europol National Unit; and what is the proposed Europol budget for 2001. [132663]
§ Mr. Charles ClarkeThe purposes and duties of member states' Europol National Units are set out in Article 4 of the Europol Convention. The United Kingdom's Europol National Unit is situated within the International Division of the National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS) at their Headquarters in London. The personnel of the Europol National Unit, 12 staff in total, are all NCIS employees.
The Europol budget for 2001, agreed by the Council of the European Union is 35,391,300 euro. The United Kingdom will contribute 5,134,443 euro.
§ Mr. MitchellTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his reply of 11 July 2000,Official Report, columns 518–19W, concerning Europol, what the membership is of the Europol Working Group; how often it meets and who provides its Secretariat; and who represents the interests of the United Kingdom Government on this Group. [132662]
§ Mr. Charles ClarkeThe Europol Working Group comprises from all the European Union member states the Commission and Europol. The Working Group meets periodically at the invitation of the Presidency of the Council of the European Union. Since 1 July 1999, the date that Europol officially took up its duties, the Group has met five times, twice under each of the Finnish and Portuguese Presidencies and once so far under the French Presidency. The secretariat of the group is provided by the General Secretariat of the Council. The Home Office, in consultation with other departments and agencies, represents the interests of the United Kingdom at the Working Group meetings.