Parliamentary Assemblies: Finance

Mr. Chope
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the running costs of the (a) North Atlantic Assembly, (b) Assembly of Western European Union and (c) Parliamentary Assembly of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe were in the most recent year for which figures are available; and what the Government’s contribution was to the costs of each such assembly in that year.

Mr. Ivan Lewis
[holding answer 30 November 2009]: The 2009 budget for the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation Parliamentary Assembly, formerly known as the North Atlantic Assembly, was €3,722,650. The UK contribution was €518,584.

In 2009, the Western European Union Parliamentary Assembly cost its 10 member states €6,359,336. Of this total, the UK contribution was €1,367,161.

The overall budget for 2009-10 for the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe Parliamentary Assembly is €2,856,128. The UK contribution is €267,035.