To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on progress made to date in (a) the conflict prevention centre and consultative committee, (b) the office for democratic institutions and human rights, (c) the commission on national minorities, (d) the forum for security co-operation, (e) the Vienna group and (f) the parliamentary assembly of the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe.

The 1990 Paris charter set up the conflict prevention centre and consultative committee, the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights and the parliamentary assembly, as part of the CSCE's efforts to promote security, democracy and respect for human rights in Europe. These institutions are adapting well to the new demands placed on them and are supported now by the Forum for Security Co-operation and the High Commissioner on National Minorities agreed at Helsinki in July 1992. The Council of Ministers at Stockholm in December 1992 provided for more effective decision making in the CSCE by establishing the Vienna group of the committee of senior officials. It also appointed a Secretary General and laid the foundation for a single organisational structure for the CSCE in Vienna. The institutions are lightly staffed but are contributing to the CSCE's varied activities notably in the resolution of disputes and preventive diplomacy.