British-Irish/North-South Ministerial Councils

HC Deb 10 November 2003 vol 413 cc43-4W

Mr. Peter Robinson

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many meetings of the(a) British-Irish Council and (b) North-South Ministerial Council have taken place since they were established; and what additional meetings of each have taken place in other sectoral formats. [121089]

Mr. Paul Murphy

The total number of meetings is as follows:

Institution	Type of meeting	Number of meetings
British-Irish Council	Summit	4
	Sectoral	6
North/South Ministerial Council	Plenary	4
	Institutional	1
	Sectoral	60

The following sectoral meetings have taken place:

Institution Sector	Number of meetings
BIC	Drugs	2
	Environment	3
	Transport	1
NSMC	Agriculture	7
	Education	4
	Environment	6
	Food safety and Health	5
	Foyle, Carlingford and Irish Lights Commission	8
	Inland Waterways	5
	Language	4
	Special EU Programmes	7
	Tourism	5
	Trade and Business Development	7
	Transport	2

Mr. Dodds

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many staff are employed in the secretariat of the(a) North-South Ministerial Council, (b) British-Irish Council and (c) Civic Forum; and what the costs are in respect of such staff. [100724]

Mr. Paul Murphy

The information is as follows:

(a) North-South Ministerial Council:

There are 25.5 whole time equivalent staff employed in the Joint Secretariat of the North-South Ministerial Council drawn from the Northern Ireland Civil Service and the Irish Civil Service. The North-South Ministerial Council cannot meet during suspension. The staff employed in the Joint Secretariat are currently engaged in providing administrative support associated with the care and maintenance of the North-South Implementation Bodies, and a range of other duties.

The costs in respect of the staff drawn from the Northern Ireland Civil Service for 2002–03 were £412,929 (latest available figure). This figure includes salaries, travel and subsistence costs.

(b) British-Irish Council: The British and Irish Governments provide the Secretariat for the British-Irish Council in co-ordination with officials from each of the other members. In addition to servicing the work of the Council, the officials are involved in carrying out a range of other duties. It is therefore not possible to identify detailed staff numbers and costings in respect of those functions which relate to the Secretariat.

(c) Civic Forum:

Funding for the Civic Forum ceased during suspension. As a result staff in the Civic Forum Secretariat have been redeployed on other duties. At the latest date for which costs are available, the figure for the staff costs of Civic Forum Secretariat for 2002–03 were £158,526. This figure includes salaries and travel costs.