APPENDIX 4
Letter dated 25 May 2000 from the Chairman
of the Trade and Industry Committee
Thank you for your letter dated 18 May about POST.
The Committee has made regular use of the services
of POST, in various ways, and have found their output professional
and well-researched. In the recent past, we have, for example:
— invited POST to contribute to our
1999 inquiry into the impact of the Climate Change Levy on industry,
and together identified the experience of our European partners
with energy taxes as the most useful area for advice. POST produced
a useful paper which we printed as evidence. It helped the Committee
in its November 1999 visit to Sweden and the Netherlands where
these matters were discussed:
— used the Briefing Note produced on
Mox in the course of its BNFL PPP inquiry, on which we published
our Report on 25 May:
— used the particular expertise of
a member of the POST staff to provide technical advice and expertise
in the course of our current inquiry into UK space policy.
I do not have a firm view on POST funding: but
it is certainly a service which we would miss.
In the future, I would hope that, in addition
to the current output of briefing notes, the Office can be sufficiently
staffed and funded to enable it to respond rapidly to requests
from select committees for work in connection with particular
inquiries. While some system of prioritisation will no doubt be
needed, and while it is up to Committees to give as much notice
as possible, POST should be able to respond rapidly, and to conform
to the requirements of a particular case.
Martin O'Neill
Chairman
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