§ Mr. MacleanTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if(a) he, (b) civil servants in his Department or (c) special advisers in his 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. [75882]
§ Mr. Byers[holding answer 10 March 1999]I refer the right hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend 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 Select Committees giving me drafts of Select Committee reports, or parts of reports including their conclusions, before publication. Nor, to the best of my 714W knowledge, have there been any occasions on which members of Select Committees have given such material to civil servants or special advisers in my Department.