HC Deb 15 January 2002 vol 378 c132W
Miss McIntosh

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to his answer of 10 December 2001,Official Report, column 855W, on agendas for meeting of the EU Council of Ministers, for how many (a) council meetings and (b) Justice and Home Affairs Council meetings in the last three months the provisional agenda was received by his Department 14 days or more before the beginning of the meeting; for how many of those meetings in each case there were subsequent changes to the agenda involving (i) items for discussion and (ii) A points; and how long before each of the last two Justice and Home Affairs Council meetings a final, definitive list of A points was received by his Department. [27150]

Peter Hain

The Council's rules of procedure require provisional agendas to be drawn up by the Presidency and sent to other members of the Council and the Commission at least 14 days before the beginning of each meeting of the Council of Ministers. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office is responsible for the General Affairs Council; we do not keep records of the number of days before each meeting that agendas have been received or amended; nor of how many Council's agendas have subsequently been changed.

There were Justice and Home Affairs Councils on 16 October, 16 November and 6–7 December, and a joint JHA/ECOFIN Council on 16 October. For three of these four Councils the B part of the agenda was issued 14 days or more before the Council, the exception being the JHA Council on 16 October. In each case where part B of the agenda was issued more than 14 days before a JHA Council or the JHA/ECOFIN Council, it was subsequently amended. For the three Councils concerned, the final agenda was available four days before the Council in one case and the day before the Council in the other two. On two occasions, the agenda was amended four times.

In no case was an A point list issued 14 days in advance of a JHA Council. There were no A points at the JHA and JHA/ECOFIN Councils on 16 October. For the 16 November JHA Council, the first A point list was received the day before the Council and for the 6–7 December JHA Council the first A point list was received on 4 December.

For the last two JHA Councils, the final definitive list of A points was issued by the Presidency the day before the Council in question.