§ Mr. MacleanTo ask the President of the Council if(a) she, (b) civil servants in her Department or (c) special advisers in her Department have (i) had sight of drafts of select committee reports, in whole or in part, or (ii) been informed of conclusions of select committee reports prior to their publication by the select committees. [75872]
§ Mrs. BeckettI refer the right hon. Member to the answer given by the Prime Minister to the hon. Member for Spelthorne (Mr. Wilshire) on 1 March 1999,Official Report, column 531. There have been no instances of members of departmental select committees giving me or the Parliamentary Secretary 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 departmental 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 Orders.
However, as chair of the Modernisation Committee, I am responsible for drawing up its draft reports and these are also seen by my immediate advisers, that is, members of my private office and one or two officials who advise me on parliamentary matters and one of my special advisers. As a member of the House of Commons Commission, I also see some of the papers of the Domestic Committees; these are also seen by my immediate advisers.
As chair of the Cabinet Committee on future legislation, I have also been consulted about the possibility of legislation to enact the recommendations of the Joint Committee on Parliamentary Privilege.
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