§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what the mandate of the Committee for the implementation of the Community action programme for the prevention of AIDS and certain other communicable diseases is; how many times it has met over the last 12 months; what the United Kingdom representation on it is; what the annual cost of its work is to public funds; if he will list the items currently under its consideration; if he will take steps to increase its accountability and transparency to Parliament; and if he will make a statement. [57474]
§ Ms BlearsThe European Union Committee for the implementation of the Community action programme for the prevention of AIDS and certain other communicable diseases was mandated under Article 5 of Decision 647/96/EC of the European Parliament and the Council (amended under Article 4 of Decision 521/2001/EC).
The committee assisted the Commission in taking forward the programme by providing opinions on proposed measures by the Commission. It is due to terminate with the introduction of the new EU action programme on public health.
The committee met once in the last year, in January 2002. The United Kingdom is normally represented by an official from this Department.
Costs of the committee to public funds are minimal. Meetings last one day, and the Commission pay the travel costs of nominated representatives. UK Departments are required to pay subsistence and UK costs.
The financial framework for implementation of the Community action programme for the prevention of AIDs and certain other communicable diseases, from 1 January 2002 to 31 December 2002, is euro 10.07 million.
The Commission has now decided which projects it will fund. This list will be published on the Department's website.
Together with members states, the Commission is currently conducting a review to bring existing legislation on the conduct of comitology committees into line with Council Decision 1999/468/EC, to "simplify the requirements for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission".
As an obligation to the Decision, the Commission undertook to publish an annual report on the working of committees. The first report was deposited in the Libraries of both Houses on 28 February 2002 (Com (2001) 783 Final).
As part of the review process, the UK Government have encouraged the Commission to produce and maintain an electronic database of every comitology committee, its agendas and recent actions, to be accessible through its website: http://europa.eu.int/comm/health/index_en.html.