Letter from Lord Geddes, Chairman of Sub-Committee
B, to Angela Knight, MP, Economic Secretary to the Treasury
The above document was considered by Sub-Committee B at
its meeting this morning.
The Sub-Committee was struck by the fact that, while the
Green Paper is dated 27 November 1996, and the covering note
from the Council Secretariat is dated 8 December, your EM was
not submitted to Parliament until 19 February 1997. The Sub-Committee
would be grateful for an explanation of why it took so long for
the EM to be submitted, bearing in mind that the consultation
period on the Green Paper expires at the end of March.
I understand that you have now written to Lord Tordoff, the
Chairman of the Select Committee, with the results of the Treasury
consultation exercise on the Green Paper referred to in your EM.
Although your letter did not arrive in time to be considered
at this morning's meeting, the Sub-Committee was able to agree
to lift the scrutiny reserve on the Green Paper at that meeting.
It did, however, express an interest in the subject of public
procurement and will consider with interest any further proposals
that the Commission may bring forward on the basis of the ideas
contained in the Green Paper.
20 March 1997
