§ Mr. DoddsTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the(a) cost and (b) number of staff was in the (i) North-South Ministerial Council, (ii) British Irish Council and (iii) Inter-Governmental Conference in each year since they were created. [156625]
§ Mr. Paul MurphyThe cost and number of staff in each year since December 1999, when these Bodies were established, are as follows.
975W(a) North/South Ministerial Council
Cost (£)1 Staff 1999–2000 94,949 6 2000–01 737,162 15 2001–02 787,609 16 2002–03 606,889 16 2003–04 2489,964 15 1Expenditure by the NI Administration which includes salaries, administration and cost of meetings. 2Provisional figure (up to 31 January 2004) (b) British-Irish Council
Each member of the British-Irish Council is responsible for the costs of its participation. The British and Irish Governments provide the Secretariat for the Council, in co-ordination with officials of each of the other members and bear the costs between them. In addition to servicing the work of the Council, the officials are involved in carrying out a range of other duties. It is not therefore possible to provide the cost of the British-Irish Council since its inception nor to identify detailed staff numbers. However, the cost to the NI Administration for Ministerial meetings in NI and travel and subsistence costs for Ministerial meetings outside NI are as follows:
£ 1999–2000 6,365 2000–01 7,420 2001–02 10,158
Institution 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 (a) North-South Ministerial Council 1 22 24 18 0 0 (b) British-Irish Inter-Governmental Conference 1 0 0 2 3 1 (b) British-Irish Council 1 2 1 4 4 0