To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the legislative proposals which are under development at EU level implementing the Hague Programme on Freedom, Security and Justice; and how many proposals implementing that programme have been agreed on. (108072)

The Hague Programme calls upon the European Commission to monitor its progress and implementation. The Commission adopted its first report on 28 June 2006 in the form of a Communication, COM (2006) 333, 11228/06, “Report on the Implementation of the Hague Programme for 2005”. It was supplemented by a Commission staff working paper which was a “scoreboard” listing all the initiatives, including legislative proposals, under development at EU level within the context of the Hague Programme, and the Council’s progress in negotiating, adopting and implementing those initiatives. We expect it to be updated next year. For ease of reference, the scoreboard can be found at:

http://ec.europa.eu/justice_home/news/information_dossiers/the_hague_2006/scoreboard_en.htmhttp://ec.europa.eu/justice_home/news/information_dossiers/the_hague_2006/s

The Communication was deposited for Parliamentary scrutiny and an Explanatory Memorandum was submitted by the Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department, my hon. Friend the Member for Enfield, North (Joan Ryan) on 16 October.