11
have to satisfy the Council about the degree of public
consultation 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
will
the subject.
personal
memorandum Finally the
scrutiny of the Branch Secretary
Department responsible
and, in
many
be given
the
or Head of
cases,
of the
Attorney-General and the Chief Secretary personally.
The final version of the memorandum is sent out to
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, than 20 separate the Council may be asked to consider more
annexes
proposals which may be supported by memoranda and running to tens of pages. The preparatory work required by
individual members before the
therefore very considerable.
takes meeting
f.
place
is
A remarkable feature of the
Council's work is the thoroughness with which it is done and
lael-
the care with which any proposal is weighed.
time the Council comes to discuss
Thus by the
time
a
proposal it will have been the subject of many hundreds of hours of work, by the Officials concerned, by the members of
3
the Public
who
have
been
themselves.
consulted
the and by
Members