To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what meetings Ministers from her Department have had with the Pompidou Group of the Council of Europe in the last 12 months; and what matters were discussed. (148530)

[holding answer 9 July 2007]: Home Office Ministers have had no meetings with the Pompidou Group of the Council of Europe in the last 12 months. There was a Ministerial meeting of the Group on 27-28 November 2006 which I was unable to attend, but at which the United Kingdom was represented by our Ambassador to the Council of Europe and a Home Office official. The meeting endorsed a programme of work for experts in the field for the period 2007-10 in furtherance of the Group’s core mission of contributing to the development of multidisciplinary, innovative, effective and evidence-based drug policies in Council of Europe member states, in particular in the areas of prevention, treatment, criminal justice, research, ethics and co-operation between operational staff at airports.