Only 11 people attended a public meeting in Hamilton last night to participate in a discussion on the Public Access to Information (PATI) initiative.

This was the only public meeting to be held by the Central Policy Unit (CPU) before the team concludes its research on October 21.

The CPU will spend the next few months developing legislation which will be forwarded to cabinet early next year and tabled by the Fall of 2006.

Assistant Cabinet Secretary of Policy, Warren Jones, said last night that implementation would hopefully commence sometime between 2007 and 2009 with access beginning in either 2010 or 2011.

Mr. Warren and his team have been conducting research into public access to information legislation for the last few months.

This included a meeting with various business leaders and the press on Wednesday.

But Mr. Jones said despite 40 confirmations, only 20 people attended.

However this had not deterred the team from informing as many people as they can about international best practice through the press and gathering feedback to help them give form to a policy proposal.

Mr. Jones appealed to the public to review the brochure which is still available from most post offices and provide as much feedback as possible to the CPU.

The brochure provides information about the basic principles of PATI including this initiatives' objectives as well as a summary of proposals.

Mr. Jones appealed to the public to send queries and concerns to the CPU at patigov.bm or by calling 298-7168 as soon as possible.