§ Mr. MorganTo ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will list the guidelines and timings for meetings of permanent secretaries with Opposition Front Bench Members, and for the undertaking of contingency work by civil servants in preparation for a change of Government; and if he will make a statement. [3268]
§ Mr. HeseltineThe convention has been that, by authority of the Prime Minister, towards the end of a Parliament or when a general election has been called, Opposition parties may arrange, with the authority of their party leaders and through the head of the civil service, contacts with senior civil servants. These arrangements are designed to allow briefing on factual questions on departmental organisational changes which Opposition parties have in mind or which may result from Opposition party policies. Any exchanges would be confidential. Following the last general election, my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister told the leader of the Opposition that he would be content to authorise confidential exchanges between senior civil servants and Opposition spokesmen from January 1996.