Supplementary information from the Department
of Social Security
SUPPLEMENTARY NOTE
TO QUESTION
15:
So far as we are aware, no representations were
made to the Department by individual members of Parliament, in
advance of the provision being voted on. However, the chairmen
of the Social Security Select Committee and the Committee of Public
Accounts did express concerns about what is now Section 82. This
led to the undertaking given by Stephen Timms, Minister of State
in the Department at the time, to consult both those Committees
on draft reports before formally tabling them before the House
(Hansard, 20 May 1999, column 1338).
SUPPLEMENTARY NOTE
TO QUESTION
41:
In the letter of 19 April from the chairman
of the procedure committee, he suggested (in paragraph 5) that
information should be routinely provided in respect of future
draft reports under four headings. Each of these headings were
covered in detail in the Department's memorandum of 31 May. As
was made clear, in response to later questions, we are happy to
share all the information that we have about the expenditure that
is the subject of a Section 82 report, subject only to considerations
of "commercial confidentiality".
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