SOME civil servants were reportedly given two days to come up with a summary of what Independence would mean for their department.

A Civil Service source, who asked not to be named, told the Mid-Ocean News that the request from their Ministerial bosses had upset staff who considered it an unrealistic request, given the short time allowed.

Premier Alex Scott confirmed yesterday that he had asked all Ministers to provide their views and opinions on how Independence would affect their departments, but he had not imposed a deadline.

Ed Ball, secretary of the Bermuda Public Services Union (BPSU), was aware of what had been asked of some of his members, but he declined to give an opinion about it.

"We have no comment to make on this, because, as a union, we do not want to align ourselves politically with anyone," Mr. Ball said.

"Our members, however, are free to make their own judgments and express their own opinions."

In response to our questions yesterday, Premier Scott issued a statement through Beverle Lottimore, the director of the Department of Communications & Information.

"After submission of the Bermuda Independence Commission Report and subsequent discussion by Cabinet Ministers, the Premier requested that the Ministers provide their views and comments on how Independence would impact their Ministries," the statement read.

"As Permanent Secretaries and Department Heads are the Ministry technical officers and thus most knowledgeable of day-to-day Ministry operations, relevant information was requested to be submitted to the Ministers by these officers.

"The Premier's request was made on Tuesday, 27 September 2005.

"The Government has repeatedly said that Independence would be decided by a knowledgeable public and the discussion would cover all facets of our lives.

"This too would include its impact on the day to day functioning of Government and the importance of this is not being overlooked. Hence the request out of the Tuesday Cabinet discussion.

"I cannot speak to numbers of days that one department or another had to submit their responses, I can only say that the timeframe for submissions began on September 27, 2005."