§ Mr. RosindellTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the(a) activities and (b) budget of the Administrative Commission of the European Communities on Social Security for Migrant Workers. [57899]
§ Mr. Nicholas BrownI have been asked to reply.
The Administrative Commission on social security for migrant workers is set up under Articles 80 and 81 of EEC Regulation 1408–71, which lays down the rules for co-ordination of member states' social security schemes for workers who move within the European Economic Area. The Administrative Commission's main function is to deal with administrative questions and questions of interpretation of the provisions of Regulation 1408–71. This enables consistency in implementation across the member states. Among its other tasks are the fostering and development of cooperation between member states in social security matters. It may also submit proposals for revising the Regulation.
The Administrative Commission is currently considering a number of items: the proposed European health card; implications arising from decisions of the European Court of Justice; the EU-Switzerland agreement; changes to forms used by member states where a claim for a benefit involves more than one state; matters relating to the electronic issue of documents; proposals for amending the EC regulation on the co-ordination of social security benefits and applications from candidate countries to list certain benefits in the annexes to that regulation.
The budget of the Administrative Commission for the current year is 1.600,000 euros which includes the technical assistance and translation costs.