§ Mr. Peter AinsworthTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he or his Ministers have received any advance copy, draft or briefing upon the contents of any report of the Culture, Media and Sport Committee prior to its due publication date and time; and if he will make a statement. [75775]
§ Mr. Chris SmithI refer the hon. Member to the reply given by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister to the hon. Member for Spelthorne (Mr. Wilshire) on 1 March 1999,Official Report, column 531. There have no instances of members of select committees giving me or my Ministerial colleagues drafts of select committee reports, or of parts of reports including their conclusions, before publication. Nor, to the best of my knowledge, have there been any occasions on which members of select committees have given such material to civil servants or special advisers in my Department. This excludes embargoed copies of reports issued under House of Commons Standing Order 116.