MESSAGE FROM SECRETARY OF STATE FOR JUSTICE AND LORD CHANCELLOR, JACK STRAW

"It is a great honour to have been appointed as Secretary of State for Justice and the first Lord Chancellor to sit in the House of Commons.

"The first thing I want to do is pay tribute to my close friend Charlie Falconer. Charlie created the Ministry of Justice and he lead the department with great passion, vision and good humour through a period of enormous change and considerable success. A much loved and much respected leader: I am deeply grateful to him, and to all the staff of the new department, for what has been achieved in a very short and pressured time span.

"The Ministry of Justice is a hugely important department: right at the heart of what Gordon Brown's Government is trying to achieve.

"There are few changes of greater importance and still fewer of more significance, than those we face each and every day. I know much of the new department's work from my time as Home Secretary, when that office also covered prisons and probation and a good deal (though not all) of the constitutional agenda. But I am very conscious of how much has changed in six years, and particularly of my obligations under the Constitutional Reform Act to ensure the independence of the judiciary.

"Our mission as a new department is to improve public service and make experiences in all the fields in which we operate better for the public. However, it goes much further than that. As the Prime Minister has said, our task is to transform politics, and to renew and reinvigorate our democracy.

"Our the last few days, the Ministry of Justice has been right at the centre of the first major announcement by the new Government.

"The Prime Minister will make a statement to the House of Commons today on the publication of the Green Paper, "Reforming the Governance of Britain."  I am very proud that this document is being published by the Ministry of Justice, and would like to thank all those who have worked so hard on it. I know that many of you gave up personal time to do so. This work is much appreciated.

"This is an exciting time for the Ministry of Justice, and I am looking forward to meeting you and listening to your ideas for the future."