11.
consultation
have to satisfy the Council about. the degree of public
that has preceded the submission and the
publicity arrangements envisaged following the decision.
In
order to ensure that the case is fairly and accurately
presented, the memorandum may be circulated in draft form
for the comments of all those officials with an interest in
the subject. Finally the memorandum will be given
or the Branch Secretary personal
Department responsible and, in many cases,
Attorney-General and the Chief Secretary personally.
scrutiny of
The final version of the memorandum is sent
the
Head of
of
the
Members by the Clerk of Councils who normally aims to get it
into their hands 10 days before the meeting so as to allow
plenty of time for them to consider it. In any one week,
the Council may be asked to consider more
than 20 separate
proposals which may be supported by memoranda
and annexes
running to tens of pages. The preparatory work required by
individual members before the meeting takes place is
therefore very considerable. A remarkable feature of the
Council's work is the thoroughness with which it is done and
Reel
the care with which any proposal is weighed.
Thus by the time the Council comes to discuss a
proposal it will have been the subject of many hundreds of
hours of work, by the Officials concerned, by the members of
the Public who have
been consulted and by the
Members
3
themselves.
1