Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, further to the Conclusions of the European Council of 25 and 26 June 2015 paragraph 14 relating to the UK's EU renegotiation programme, what technical work the Council plans to undertake before it reports back in December; what the (a) composition and (b) mandate of the working group is; and whether it is planned that national parliaments will be able to contribute to the work of that group.

Following agreement at the June European Council, discussions on the UK's renegotiation have begun. These discussions should be led by substance, not schedule, and we expect the technical discussions to take several months. The Government will keep Parliament informed.