In Anguilla on a three-month attachment to the Public Accounts Committee of the House of Assembly is Dr. Anna Dickson from the United Kingdom’s House of Commons in London.
She spent the entire afternoon session of Tuesday, October 1, observing the sitting of the Anguilla House of Assembly. At the outset of the meeting she was welcomed and introduced by the Leader of the Opposition and Chairperson of the Anguilla Public Accounts Committee, Ms. Palmavon Webster.
In drawing attention to a visitor in the Anguilla Parliament, Ms. Webster told the House: “As Chair of the Public Accounts Committee, I am very pleased to report that, through the UK Overseas Territories Project, the Public Accounts Committee has been able to secure an experienced Clerk attachment from the UK. She is to partner with the Anguilla Public Accounts Committee, and the Clerk to the Anguilla House of Assembly, to assist in developing their upcoming work plan and our Committee’s management processes.”
Ms. Webster said that Dr. Dickson “is currently employed by the House of Commons as a Table Office Clerk – and has served on various important committees of the House of Commons during her tenure. The committees include the Defence Committee, the Communities and Local Government Committee and the Environment and Rural Affairs Committee.”
The Opposition Leader said Dr. Dickson was a graduate of the University of the West Indies where she obtained a BSc degree in International Relations. She then went on to Cambridge University where she secured a Diploma in Development Studies – and to the University of Southampton where she obtained a PhD in Politics and International Relations.
Ms. Webster stated that much of Dr. Dickson’s work in Anguilla would be “focused on building the institutional capacity of the Public Accounts Committee to deliver good and proper oversight on behalf of the Anguilla House of Assembly and the people of Anguilla – those now and those in the future.”
The Opposition Leader added: “Our participation in the current UK Territories’ project is by virtue of a three-year programme of support for public financial management. The project focuses on three areas: internal audit, external audit and parliamentary oversight of public finances. The project has programmes of activities in place with each relevant territory – Anguilla being one of them – working with us on those priority areas.”
