§ Ms LynneTo ask the Secretary of State for Education 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. ForthParliamentary Counsel drafts not on behalf of private Members but on the instructions of Departments acting on the authority of Ministers. On one occasion, in respect of the Civil Rights (Disabled Persons) Bill, Department for Education Ministers agreed that instructions should go to Parliamentary Counsel for an amendment to a private Members Bill, with the intention that this should be tabled by the Government. That amendment was subsequently passed to a private Member.