The following Letters Patent were signed by Her Majesty the Queen on 9th December 2015 in respect of the Children’s Services (Co-Operation) Bill (44/11-16)

“ELIZABETH THE SECOND by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of Our other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith, To the Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly GREETING:

WHEREAS you the Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly have passed a Bill the short title of which is set out in the Schedule hereto but the said Bill does not become an Act of the Northern Ireland Assembly without Our Royal Assent:

AND WHEREAS pursuant to the Northern Ireland Act 1998 the said Bill has been submitted to Us by the Rt Hon Theresa Villiers MP one of Our Principal Secretaries of State for our Royal Assent;

We have therefore caused these Our Letters Patent to be made and have signed them and by them We give our Royal Assent to the said BILL COMMANDING Master Charles William Grant Redpath the Clerk of the Crown for Northern Ireland AND ALSO COMMANDING that these Our Letters be notified to the Presiding Officer of Northern Ireland Assembly;

AND FINALLY WE declare that, in accordance with the Northern Ireland Act 1998, at the beginning of the day on which Our Royal Assent has been notified as aforesaid the said Bill shall become an Act of the Northern Ireland Assembly.

In Witness whereof We have caused these Our Letters to be made Patent

WITNESS Ourself at Buckingham Palace

on the 3rd day of December 2015

in the sixty fourth year of Our Reign

By the Queen Herself Signed with Her own Hand”

Schedule

The Children’s services Co-Operation Bill

A Bill to require the Northern Ireland departments to discharge their functions and co-operate with one another in order to contribute to the achievement of certain specified outcomes relating to the well-being of children and young people, and to amend the Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995.