Petitions
70. On 19 January 2005, the House of Commons approved
the Procedure Committee's recommendation that a copy of each petition
presented to the House should be sent to the relevant departmental
select committee.[46]
This followed the Modernisation Committee's recommendation that
"there is a case for the House to do more with public petitions
which, if handled correctly, represent a potentially significant
avenue for communication between the public and Parliament"
.[47]
71. We received copies of several petitions:
- from residents of Bridgwater
and others requesting that the House of Commons call upon BAE
Systems and the MoD to save the Royal Ordnance factory at Puriton,
in Somerset (laid before the House by Ian Liddell-Grainger MP
on 14 December 2005);
- from residents of Southend and other parts of
Essex objecting to the Atomic Weapons Establishment's proposal
that QinetiQ dispose of radioactive waste on MoD land at Foulness
(laid before the House by James Duddridge MP on 24 July 2006);
- from residents of Taunton and others, calling
on the MoD to scrap any plans for relocating the UK Hydrographic
Office away from Taunton (laid by Jeremy Browne MP on 30 October
2006); and
- from residents of North Dorset highlighting the
importance of the Defence College for Communications and Information
Systems at Blandford Camp to the local economy and requesting
that it not be relocated as a consequence of the defence training
review (laid before the House by Robert Walter MP on 20 November
2006).
We have written to the MoD and, where relevant, other
organisations seeking their observations on the petitions, and
have published the responses.[48]
Specialist advisers
72. Our work has been greatly assisted by our team
of specialist advisers: Paul Beaver, Rear Admiral Richard Cheadle,
Professor Michael Clarke, Rear Admiral Richard Cobbold CB, Major
General Timothy Cross CBE, Professor David Kirkpatrick, Air Vice
Marshal Professor Tony Mason CB CBE, Dr Andrew Rathmell, Rear
Admiral David Snelson, Air Marshal Philip Sturley CB MBE and Brigadier
Austin Thorp. Dr Sibylle Bauer, Dr Paul Cornish and Joanna Kidd
ably advised the Quadripartite Committee. Their advice, both directly
to the Members of the Committee and through our staff, was invaluable.
73. During 2006, we successfully recruited a new
team of recently retired senior officers as advisers on the three
Services, following an open recruitment exercise.
40 For example, HC (2005-06) 824, Qq 1-83; HC (2006-07)
59, Qq 59-94 Back
41
For example, HC (2005-06) 557, Qq 1-26; HC (2005-06) 824, Qq 159-183 Back
42
HC (2005-06) 1054, Qq 1-105 Back
43
HC (2005-06) 1054, Annex B Back
44
11 October 2005. A further seminar of this kind took place on
9 January 2007 Back
45
18 April 2006 Back
46
Votes and Proceedings, 19 January 2005; and Procedure Committee,
Fifth Report of Session 2003-04, Public Petitions, HC 1248,
para 5 Back
47
Select Committee on the Modernisation of the House of Commons,
First Report of Session 2003-04, Connecting Parliament with
the Public, HC 368, para 99 Back
48
See www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmdfence.htm Back