Written question asked by James Clappison (Conservative) on Wednesday, 24 November 2010, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 29 November 2010. It was answered by David Lidington (Conservative) on Tuesday, 7 December 2010 on behalf of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

EU Law

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what (a) legislation and (b) other measures presented to the Council of Ministers the Government has agreed to adopt since May 2010; which such measures the Government did not support prior to their adoption; and what (i) legislation and (ii) other measures have been adopted in the Council of Ministers on the basis of qualified majority voting on occasions where the UK voted against since May 2010.

Answer: The Council of the European Union publishes this information on its website. It can be found at:"http://www.consilium.europa.eu/showPage.aspx?id=551&;lang=EN"Since May 2010, the UK has abstained on the following measures which were adopted by qualified majority voting:"1. Regulation (EU) No 539/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 June 2010 amending Council Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006 laying down general provisions on the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund and the Cohesion Fund as regards simplification of certain requirements and as regards certain provisions relating to financial management PE-CONS 9/3/10 REV 3.""2. Directive 2010/41/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 July 2010 on the application of the principle of equal treatment between men and women engaged in an activity in a self-employed capacity and repealing Council Directive 86/613/EEC PE-CONS 18/2/10 REV 2."The UK has not voted against any measures adopted on the basis of qualified majority voting.

Secondary information