THE EDITOR, Sir:I REFER to your editorial in The Sunday Gleaner of August 3, 2003 entitled "Parliamentary Hysteria and Compromise". I would like to state for the record there was nothing in the resolution that was passed by the Parliament which would suggest that the Government (or the Parliament for that matter) had accepted the proposition as you put it that "the child care services should be put under another minister".
In fact, the relevant section of the resolution is as follows:
"BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that in view of the need for urgent national attention to be galvanised around the issues concerning the status and welfare of children, this Honourable House requests the Prime Minister, The Most Honourable P.J. Patterson, to ensure that this special area receives the requisite ministerial attention".
As I said in the House at the end of the debate, it reflected positively on the work of the Parliament and such good efforts should be treated with a greater degree of accuracy and a more concerted effort made to report the facts.
I am, etc.,
PETER D. PHILLIPS
Leader of Government Business
2 Oxford Road, Kingston 5
