§ Ms LynneTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment on what occasions since April 1992 Ministers from his Department have(a) requested parliamentary counsel to assist in preparing amendments to private Members' Bills on behalf of other private Members and (b) authorised officials to instruct parliamentary counsel to prepare amendments which were subsequently passed to private Members.
§ Mr. Michael ForsythParliamentary counsel does not draft on behalf of private Members but on the instructions of Departments acting on the authority of Ministers. On one occasion since April 1992, in respect of the Civil Rights (Disabled) Persons Bill, Employment Department Ministers agreed that instructions should go to parliamentary counsel for amendments to a private Members' Bill with the intention that these should be tabled by the Government. These amendments were subsequently passed to private Members.