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to the press on matters raised in their evidence. If a Select
Committee takes evidence in public from a Minister or senior official,
therefore, it may be considered desirable for a Press Officer also to
attend, so as to be able to answer press queries. Such press briefing
should not, however, extend to comment on matters of policy since
such comment might be regarded as impeding the Committee in its task
and hence as contempt. Care should be taken not to go beyond the
evidence given by the Minister or official in commenting on any
suggestion made by another witness, eg the Chairman of a Nationalised
Industry, at the same hearing, or to disclose information not yet
given publicly. Written memoranda of evidence on which departmental
witnesses are examined in public and which are included in the
printed copy of the proceedings reported that day to the House, in
as much as they may have been available to the public attending the
session, may at the department's discretion be issued to other
interested parties thereafter. Copies of oral evidence given in
public should not, however, be disclosed by departments until the
final published version is available, as the first copies are
confidential proofs subject both to correction and to explanation
by footnotes. Amendments to the proofs of evidence sent to witnesses
by the Clerk cannot normally go beyond minor corrections of grammar
and transcription, although the chairman may be willing to consider
suggestions about "sidelining" (see para 25).
23. Evidence critical of a department may be given in open session
by persons outside the department on occasions when departmental
witnesses are not also present. In these circumstances departments
should not seek publicly to respond to such criticisms outside the
ambit of the Committee. Instead, the Chairman of the Committee
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