Briefing from the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman on: MMR, Civil Service Bill and Drug Testing in Schools.
MMR
Asked if given the latest on MMR, we could confirm whether Leo Blair had received the vaccine, the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman (PMOS) referred journalists to the answer the Prime Minister had last given on the subject well over a year ago. The position hadn’t changed and they could look it up. Asked what it was the PMOS said that in summary from memory, that the Prime Minister would not ask parents to do what he wasn’t prepared to do himself.
Civil Service Bill
Asked about Sir Nigel Wick’s comments about a Civil Service Bill, the PMOS said that the draft bill would be published in due course. Clearly any Government had a variety of competing demands on its legislative time, but we had given an undertaking on a draft bill. In respect of issues to do with Special Advisors, it was worth pointing out that firstly there were just over eighty Special Advisors. That this Government had been the first to implement the model contract and ensure that there was a code of conduct for Special Advisors.
Drug Testing in Schools
Asked which Cabinet Minister’s the Prime Minister had discussed the proposals for random drug testing in schools, the PMOS said that the guidance was being drawn up by the Department for Education and Skills in consultation with the profession groups acting in the field and the police. This was not something which had dropped out of Downing Street from a clear blue sky one Sunday morning. It was something which DfES had been working on for some time. Asked if the Prime Minister would customarily discuss with the Department the fact that he was going to mention it in an interview, the PMOS said that the Department would certainly have been aware of what the Prime Minister had said.
delicious
digg
facebook
