Asked by: Lord Jopling (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when the decision was taken to construct the new NATO headquarters building in Brussels; when any plans for the new headquarters building were approved; what was the anticipated cost of the project at that time; whether those costs have been revised subsequently, and if so, what is the current estimated cost on completion; what the anticipated dates of completion and occupation were at the time of approval; whether those dates have been revised subsequently; and when it is expected that the old NATO headquarters building will be vacated.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
At the 1999 Washington Summit, NATO Heads of State and Government decided to build a new NATO headquarters to meet the requirements of the Alliance in the twenty first century. In 2003, the North Atlantic Council approved a design for the new headquarters with an estimated cost of €1.2 billion. These costs have been revised on a number of occasions; the current estimate is €1.17 billion. Handover of the site was originally planned for August 2015 but was delayed until March 2017 due to technical difficulties. Allies will begin moving to the new headquarters in March 2018 with the site of the current buildings returning to the Belgian Government towards the end of this year.
Asked by: Lord Jopling (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, in relation to each of (1) the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, (2) the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, and (3) the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe Parliamentary Assembly, (a) how many full members from the UK there are, (b) how many peers serve as full members, (c) what percentage of the total number of delegates those peers represent, and (d) what percentage of the total costs is represented by those peers.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
There are 18 full members of the UK Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) and the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. Four of the PACE delegation are peers, 22.2% of the total, five of the NATO delegation are peers, 27.8 %. There are 13 full members of the UK Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, three of whom are peers, 23.1% of the total.
The allocation of places and costs for peers is decided by the political parties in Parliament.
Further details of the delegations are available at: https://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/offices/delegations/
The British Government welcomes and encourages the role our national Parliamentarians play in contributing their expertise more widely across the world. In international and regional organisations they underline the UK's commitment to a rules-based international order.
Asked by: Lord Jopling (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Statement by Baroness Anelay of St Johns on 13 October (HLWS187), what was the average price paid by Government Hospitality per bottle of (1) white, and (2) red, wines produced in (a) France, (b) Germany, (c) Italy, (d) Spain, (e) South Africa, (f) Australia, (g) New Zealand, (h) the United States, and (i) the UK.
Answered by Baroness Anelay of St Johns
As highlighted in the Annual Statement of 13 October (HLWS187), the average cost per bottle of wine bought by Government Hospitality in 2015-16 was £11.00. Government Hospitality does not calculate the average cost of bottles purchased by type or country of origin, as to do so would incur disproportionate costs.