asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will express in £ sterling the net annual income of an EEC Commissioner exclusively from his income from that office and excluding other income, based on his basic salary less household allowance, dependent children allowance, education allowance for two dependent children, social security payment, after taxation (wife not working) and including his residence and entertainment allowances.

The net annual income of a member of the European Commission, based on his basic salary taxed in accordance with the family circumstances described, plus residence and entertainment—but no other—allowances, is as follows:

Annual Salary	Belgian Francs
Net of tax and minus 49,836 francs social security payments	2,056,608
Residence allowance per annum	467,136
Entertainment allowance per annum	175,860
Total	2,699,604

Converted into pounds sterling at the current commercial rate of 62 Belgian francs=£l this amounts to £43,534. The commercial rate is, of course, not a precise indication of relative purchasing power, and is not the rate used by the Commision itself in calculating staff pay in different Community countries. This, of course, represents a hypothetical case, not the actual financial circumstances of any individual Commissioner. These would vary according to personal details, family circumstances, etc.