What the reasons are for appointing an Opening Ceremonies Manager for the new Parliament building; when the decision was taken that such an…

A member of the Parliament's staff has been appointed, following an internal competition, to undertake the duties of Opening Ceremonies Manager on a temporary basis. The decision to make the appointment was taken by the Corporate Body on 25 June 2002. The reasons for the appointment are as follows: experience of the 1999 Opening Ceremony pointed towards the need for one or more dedicated members of staff; the work of the Opening Ceremonies Steering Group requires to be supported and the contributions from different sections of parliamentary staff require to be co-ordinated; communication with and monitoring of the work of an external events co-ordinator, once appointed, will best be managed through the post; calls on the budget provisionally allocated for the Opening Ceremonies will be monitored by the manager. His substantive post has been advertised internally, to be filled on a temporary basis. No recruitment costs, other than staff time, have been incurred. To date, no savings have accrued. I will write to the member directly with the other details requested.