Written question asked by Angus Robertson (Scottish National Party) on Thursday, 15 December 2005, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 19 December 2005. It was answered by Baroness Primarolo (Labour) on Thursday, 26 January 2006 on behalf of the Treasury.

EU Committees

Question: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many meetings of the EU (a) Advisory Committee for coordination in the internal market field, (b) Advisory Committee on opening up public contracts, (c) Customs Cooperation Subcommittee—EEC-Albania and (d) Customs Cooperation Subcommittee—EEC-Bulgaria have taken place during the UK presidency of the EU; who presided over each meeting; which other UK representatives were present; what provisions were made for representation of the devolved Governments; and if he will make a statement.

Answer: The Internal Market Advisory Committee met once on 18 November 2005, chaired by a senior official from the European Commission. The UK was represented by an official from the Department for Trade and Industry.The Advisory Committee on opening up public contracts met on 25 October 2005, chaired by the European Commission. The UK was represented by the Office of Government Commerce. Agendas for meetings of this group are forwarded by the OGC to the Scottish Executive, who may attend at their discretion. No representative of the Scottish Executive attended on 25 October.There have been no meetings of the Customs Cooperation Subcommittee—EEC-Albania during the UK presidency.There have been no meetings of the Customs Cooperation Subcommittee—EEC-Bulgaria during the UK presidency.With the exception of the Advisory Committee on opening up public contracts, these working groups deal with reserved matters and as such no provision was made for representation of the devolved Administrations.

Secondary information