§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the mandate of the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund Committee (and working party on irregularities) is; how many times it has met over the last 12 months; what the UK representation on it is; what the annual cost of its work is to public funds; if she will list the items currently1280W under its consideration; if she will take steps to increase its accountability and transparency to Parliament; and if she will make a statement. [55658]
§ Mr. MorleyThe Committee was set up under Council Regulation 17/64 EEC on the conditions for granting aid from the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund. Provisions which currently define the role of the Committee, confer powers on the Commission and establish rules for consultation and adoption of legislation are contained in Articles 11 to 15 of Council Regulation 1258/99 on the financing of the common agricultural policy.
The Committee has both voting and non-voting functions. The procedures for adoption of legislation by the Committee are set out in Article 13 of Regulation 1258/99. This is a management committee procedure (variant IIa). The voting procedure is applied to regulations made under Articles 4 and 5 of Regulation 1258/99 (essentially concerned with accreditation of paying agencies and submission of annual CAP accounts). In addition, a number of other regulations require the FEOGA Committee to express an opinion via Article 13 procedures, in particular on measures adopted under the Integrated Administration and Control System (IACS), some horizontal regulations, e.g. on calculating the costs of financing intervention measures, and certain commodity regime provisions which involve the grant of aid from FEOGA funds (in the latter case the sectoral management committee normally sit as a joint management committee with the FEOGA Committee).
The FEOGA Committee may also be consulted in circumstances set down in Article 14 of Reg 1258–99. This provides for the Fund Committee to be consulted:
in cases where provision is made for it to be consulted;for the assessment of the Fund's credits to be entered in the Commission's estimate for the coming financial year and, if necessary, on additional estimates;on draft proposals from the Commission to the Council concerning the application of Regulation 1258–99 and on draft reports on the Fund to be submitted to the Council.The Committee may also examine any other question referred to it by its Chairman either on his own initiative or at the request of a representative of a Member State. It should be informed regularly of the activities of the Fund. Consultation is required by Article 6 of the Regulation (essentially concerning payment of monthly advances from the Fund and decisions on clearance of annual CAP accounts). Consultation does not involve a vote.
The Committee has met 12 times over the past 12 months. The costs of travel and subsistence for two officers was about £13,344. Items currently under its consideration are the budget of the Common Agricultural Policy, and the clearance of accounts process.
Together with Member 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 this 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 26 February (COM (2001) 783 Final). 1281W 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.
§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the mandate of the Standing Forestry Committee is; how many times it has met over the last 12 months; what the UK 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. [55660]
§ Mr. MorleyThe Standing Forestry Committee was established by European Council Decision (89/367/EEC) made on 29 May 1989. Its mandate is to provide for closer co-operation in the forestry sector between Member States and the European Commission and thereby support forestry measures initiated under the Community agricultural structure and rural development policy. Recently the mandate has been extended in practice to provide support under Community environmental policy.
In the last 12 months the Committee met 6 times. The Forestry Commission represents the UK. The annual cost of the Commission's involvement varies, depending on the number of meetings. In the last 12 months the cost was £2,250.
The Committee is currently considering new legislation to monitor and assess the impacts of natural and manmade impacts on the health of forests, audit guidance on monitoring payments for forestry measures and new legislation on evaluation of forestry in rural development. Together with Member 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 this 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 26 February (Commission Document 5685/02).
As part of the review process, the UK Government has 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.
§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the mandate of the Joint Meetings of Management and/or Regulatory Committees dealing with agrimonetary questions is; how many times it has met over the last 12 months; what the UK representation on it is; what the annual cost of its work is to public funds; if she will list the items currently under its consideration; if she will take steps to increase its accountability and transparency to Parliament; and if she will make a statement. [55663]
1282W
§ Mr. MorleyThis committee oversees the agrimonetary compensation regulations. It has met twice over the last 12 months. The UK was represented by one official. The cost of travel and subsistence was about £1,024. There are no items currently under consideration.
Together with Member 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 this 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 26 February (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.