Madam SPEAKERI regret to inform the House of the death on 10 January 2008 of Sir George Robert Laking KCMG, who after a distinguished career as a public servant and diplomat was appointed an Ombudsman, and so an Officer of Parliament, in 1975 and was Chief Ombudsman from 1977 to 1984. I desire, on behalf of this House, to express our sense of the loss we have sustained and our sympathy with the relatives of the late former Chief Ombudsman. I now ask members to stand with me and observe a period of silence as a mark of respect for his memory.