Friday, 21st June 2002.

Letter from the National Statistician, Len Cook, dated 21 June 2002.

As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your recent question on the current birth rate in each country of the European Union and how this compares with 1970, 1980, 1990 and 2000. [HL4744]

The latest available information is for the year 2000. The data for the years requested are given in the attached table. Two rates have been provided. The crude birth rate is simply the number of births per 1,000 of the total population. The total fertility rate is also given. This measure controls for the size and age distribution of the female population of fertile age and gives the average number of children per women if the current patterns of fertility persist throughout her childbearing life.

The information is taken from the Eurostat (the Statistical Office of the European Communities) publication, European Social Statistics Demography 2001 edition Theme 3 population and social conditions.

Letter from the National Statistician, Len Cook, dated 21 June 2002.

As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your question concerning the number of people over 60 years of age in each country in the European Union. [HL4747]

The attached table, provided by Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities, shows the number of persons over the age of 60 from 1970–2001 for each country in the European Union.

Source: Eurostat

and whether they will indicate the per capita cost per Member as well as the average number of sitting days for each institution for 2001–02 and for each of the previous four years. [HL4649]

Lord McIntosh of Haringey:

The information for the years 1997–98 and 1998–99 was given in my Answer of 22 July 1999 (WA 129–30). The information for 1999–2000 was given in my Answer of 5 July 2000 (WA 133) and the information for 2000–01 was given in my Answer of 12 July 2001 (WA 87). The information for 2001–02 is as follows.

(1) Based on calendar years and average £/eu exchange rate for the relevant year. The cost to the UK is derived from the UK's financing share after abatement.

(2) Per capita cost based on the number of Peers eligible to sit in the House of Lords at the beginning of each year. The number of Peers has reduced significantly since the House of Lords Act 1999, when 655 hereditary Peers ceased to be Members from November 1999.

(3) The number of European Parliament seats increased from 518 to 567 in June 1994 and has increased since to its present total of 626.

(4) In 2001–02 the European Parliament sat for 138 days. This includes plenary sessions as well as part-plenaries, committee days and political group days in Brussels. In addition, there were 14 constituency days.

(5) The total cost of the House of Commons includes capital costs in respect of new parliamentary buildings.

(6) Per capita costs based on 659 members.

(7) The number of sitting days for the House of Commons in 2001–02 was 224, including Westminster Hall sittings.

(1&3) The sterling cost of the European Parliament fluctuates due to changes in the value of the euro relative to sterling.

Estonia disaster by eight EU countries, including the UK (the Stockholm agreement). These requirements are complementary to the International Maritime Organization's (IMO) standard, aimed at increasing the survivability of damaged ro-ro vessels. The very large majority of UK ro-ro ferries have already been altered to comply with the Stockholm standard and those few remaining will be altered as necessary before the deadline of September 2002.

The second directive on safety of passenger ships makes a number of technical amendments to the existing directive 98/18. I would particulary draw attention to provisions bringing into Community law the IMO rules and standards on high speed craft and placing a duty on member states to encourage owners to improve accessibility to their ships for people with limited mobility.

The Council reached agreement on a directive to open the market for the provision of services, including cargo handling and pilotage, in large and medium-sized ports. For service contracts, there will be maximum durations of 10, 15 and 36 years (plus a possible further 10 years), respectively, for services with no significant investment, services with significant investment in movable assets, and services with significant investment in immovable assets. In addition, the UK argued successfully for a 40-year period for new ports in the future. The agreed text includes a number of other significant changes which meet many of the concerns we have had on the Commission's original proposals, including protecting working conditions for port workers. The Commission said it would come forward with guidelines as soon as possible to address the important issue of competition between ports.

The Council did not reach agreement on a regulation establishing a programme (the Marco Polo programme) to succeed the PACT programme for the promotion of combined transport. The Marco Polo programme would offer Community financial support for modal shift projects, with a budget of €85 million and various thresholds for different types of eligible project. The UK joined other member states in arguing that there should be a reduced budget.

The Commission reported on the need for further action in Europe in the field of maritime security. This would be principally within the framework of the IMO.

The Council was unable to agree conclusions on the Commission's transport White Paper of September 2001 which proposes a range of measures to address significant issues such as congestion, safety and the environmental impact of transport. During the debate Mr Spellar was one of a number of Ministers to reject any reference in the conclusions to tax harmonisation. He also referred to the need to update the existing Eurovignette Directive to allow member states to proceed with implementing distance-based charging schemes. Following the debate, the Presidency issued conclusions.

The Council did not agree a common position on amendment of the Trans-European Network Guidelines. Discussion centred principally on the new list of priority projects. More work will be done on this in preparation for consideration by Ministers during the Danish Presidency.

The Commission presented a proposal for Community accession to the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and the IMO. It will be seeking a mandate from the Council to negotiate with these organisations.

The Council reached agreement on a decision agreeing Community accession to the European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation (Eurocontrol), the pan-European body co-ordinating air traffic management. The agreement is subject to parliamentary scrutiny reservations being lifted.

There were Presidency Conclusions noting the large degree of support among member states for the Single European Sky and the agreement of member states to make progress by 2004 in line with the conclusions of the Barcelona European Council. The conclusions also noted the importance of Eurocontrol in the process.

The Council unanimously adopted a common position on a directive on occurrence reporting in civil aviation, establishing a common framework for dealing with safety-related incidents. There was agreement on a draft regulation requiring member states to provide aviation statistical returns.

The Commission presented a proposal on subsidy and unfair pricing by third country airlines, noting that some third countries had offered substantial financial support to their airlines, which had an impact on Community carriers.

The Presidency reported on discussions over lunch about aviation war-risk insurance. The Council believed that state intervention should be limited to avoid market restriction, but that possible mutualisation schemes should be examined.

The Council reached agreement on a directive tightening existing Community legislation on seat-belt wearing. A compromise was reached on an exemption for school buses which will last for five years. We have some concern at the lack of respect for subsidiarity in this proposal and this was made clear to the Council. In our view, it is appropriate to have a broad framework at EU level, leaving details of implementation to member states.

The Council did not reach agreement on a regulation on ecopoints for the transit of HGVs through Austria. This would have allowed extension of the ecopoint system beyond the current expiry date of 31 December 2003, but not beyond 2006, pending the forthcoming adoption of legislation on EU-wide infrastructure charging. The Commission concluded that in 2004 the Ecopoint system would finish. The Presidency hoped that imminent high level discussions among key member states would lead to a solution of the problem of Alpine transit.