Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :

To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, if he will publish all (a) documents, (b) minutes, (c) agendas and (d) reports written (i) by and (ii) for the Alternative Arrangements Working Group.

The Secretary of State’s meetings with MPs and others to explore alternative arrangements to the backstop form part of routine Ministerial meetings. The Department for Exiting the European Union will publish, on a quarterly basis, details of the Secretary of State’s external meetings in line with section 8.14 of the Ministerial Code.

Only Ministers can commission advice from civil servants, and the usual rules around the use and release of government papers will apply. The Government has not provided any papers to the group of MPs. Any documents produced by the MPs are a matter for them.