Subordinate Legislation Committee

Meeting date: Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Official Report 333KB pdf

---

Annual Report

We have the draft annual report in our papers. The report is pretty clear to me. If there are no comments from colleagues, are we happy to sign it off?

Members indicated agreement.

Before we go into private, I will put on the record, on behalf of colleagues—if that is all right—an expression of thanks to our team: our clerks, the official report, our legal advisers and everyone who has helped us to carry out our work over the four years of this parliamentary session.

It may not seem the most important thing in the world, but a highly technical machine works only if all its parts work. If one part fails, the whole thing fails. The Subordinate Legislation Committee is crucial to the work of the Parliament. If I might be so bold, in our own small way the committee plays a part in the working of democracy and in the safeguarding of the role of the Parliament and its elected members when it comes to agreeing to legislation. That job has been done well and I am extremely grateful to our support team and to my colleagues. I thank each and every one of you.

I do not know what the future holds, least of all for me. I wish each one of you the very best.

I wish you all the best for the future. It has been a pleasure working on the committee with you and we concur with your comments about the support staff. We wish you all the best.

I may need those sentiments.

I know, from speaking to colleagues in the Parliament and elsewhere, how highly regarded our team of clerks and our legal advisers are. They contribute enormously to the working of democracy because they find problems and manage to nip them in the bud before they cause further problems. I associate myself with your remarks and wish you all the best in future.

That is very kind. With that, we move into private.

12:12 Meeting continued in private until 12:14.