§ Mr. William RossTo ask the President of the Council when the explanatory notes for the Police (Northern Ireland) Act 2000, the Disqualifications Act 2000, and the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 will be available in the Vote Office; and if she will ensure that the explanatory notes will be available with future Acts at the same time that those Acts are published. [144132]
§ Mrs. Beckett[holding answer 8 January 2001]: All Departments have been reminded of the importance of ensuring that the Explanatory Notes to Acts are produced at the appropriate time. Because of the need to ensure that these accurately reflect the Act as passed it may, however, not always be possible to ensure that this is simultaneous with the Act. In the case of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000, many amendments were made during its final stages and as a consequence it has taken time to ensure that the Explanatory Notes accurately reflect the changes which were made. These will be published shortly. The Explanatory Notes for the Disqualification Act 2000 were published on 29 January 2001, while those for the Police (Northern Ireland) Act 2000 were published on 5 February.