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Number 10 says no final decision has so far been taken on the extent to which the Iraq inquiry should be held in public.
Gordon Brown remains under pressure to hold the forthcoming Iraq war inquiry in public, although former prime minister Tony Blair is said to have sought privacy.
The Guardian reported that the prime minister is preparing to accept parts of a Conservative motion, to be debated on in the Commons on Wednesday, that the inquiry "should wherever possible be held in public".
The prime minister's spokesman said on Monday that whether the inquiry held some public sessions was up to inquiry chairman Sir John Chilcot to decide.
And the spokesman confirmed that Sir John had not yet responded to the prime minister's letter, in which Brown stressed that public access to the inquiry might be preferable.
Meanwhile, children's secretary Ed Balls suggested that it would be a "good thing" to have part of the investigation into the Iraq war held in public.
He told GMTV that the prime minister "is talking to Mr Chilcot who is going to do the inquiry". "They will decide how they do this," he said.
"I think that they will be really keen to make sure that members of the public can put their views and former service people as well.
"And if they decide to do some hearings in public then that will be a good thing but that is really a matter for them."
Balls added: "I think the important thing is that it is an independent inquiry so the guy in charge of the inquiry should decide rather than politicians saying 'you have got to do it this way, or that way'."
Dods Parliamentary Communications Ltd