Briefing from the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman on: Civil Service speech, Asylum Statistics, Libyan Prime Minister, Guantanamo Bay and BBC Licence Fees.
Civil Service Speech
The Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman (PMOS) previewed the Prime Minister’s speech on the Civil Service. The speech would mark the 150th Anniversary of the Northcote-Trevelyan Report which laid down the foundations of the present Civil Service. The Prime Minister would pay tribute to the ‘enduring values’ of the Civil Service - integrity, impartiality and merit. He would say that the question for the Civil Service in our generation was how to sustain those values whilst bringing about the radical transformation our times demanded. As with the NHS, Education and the Criminal Justice system, "the world has changed and the Civil Service must change with it." That would mean a change in the balance between the traditional focus on policy advice towards the need for delivery, focusing on outcomes and not working in traditional departmental silos: "A change of operation and of culture that goes to the core of the Civil Service" following the example of the Department of Health where the centre was becoming a more strategic operation with greater use of professional expertise. "The goal is a transformed Civil Service, capable of serving Governments of any colour in the era of Globalisation. We need a Civil Service which aims to amplify the implementation of successful change rather than, as in the past, act a shock absorber in order to maintain the status quo."
Asked if the Prime Minister would mention the Civil Service Act, the PMOS said no. It was a speech about the Civil Service itself. Asked what practical measure the Prime Minister had in mind for transforming the Civil Service, the PMOS said there was quite a lot of detail in the speech in terms of how the centre would become more strategic and how it would focus on delivery outcomes, rather than just policy. That included using professional expertise from outside the Civil Service to drive forward processes of change and so forth, but there was quite a detailed analysis in the speech, as journalists would see.
Asked if the Prime Minister wanted to see a smaller Civil Service, the PMOS said the Prime Minister wanted to see a more focussed Civil Service, and that would mean changes in relative numbers between the centre and agencies and so forth. This was not about the detail of numbers. This was about the overall direction and setting that overall direction and modernising the traditional merits, the enduring values of the Civil Service but translating them into the era of Globalisation.
Put to him that this was an odd speech to make about the Civil Service since it avoided the pressing issues, the PMOS said he didn’t agree with that. He would make a distinction between issues which dominated headlines and issues which were about the essential character and role of the Civil Service. This was a serious speech about the role of the modern Civil Service and how it needed to adapt to modern demands and modern practices. That was a much broader issue than the small range of issues on which the headlines tended to focus.
Asylum Statistics
The PMOS drew journalists’ attention to asylum figures released todaywhich showed we had already met the Prime Minister’s pledge to halve the monthly rate compared to October 2002. Applications were down 52% in the last three months of the year compared to 2002. In 2003 as a whole, following a surge of applications before the tougher benefits rules came into place, applications fell by 41%, which was four times the EU average. As a result of the fall in numbers, the applications for state support had fallen by 60% in the last three months of last year compared with the same period in 2002.
Asked how the Government had achieved these asylum figures, the PMOS said that the measures we had taken through legislation had had a significant impact. Also in terms of the action we had taken in terms of sending officers to France; working with the French Government to close Sangatte refugee camp and the whole range of measures we had taken. We did not believe, however, that this was a situation that was anything other than work in progress and we continued to pursue that, in terms of, for instance, building a new 330 capacity removal centre near Heathrow. We had turned a corner but we were not complacent.
Asked if we had removal figures, the PMOS said there had been a record increase of 23% in the number of removals for 2003.
Libyan Prime Minister
Asked for a reaction to comments made this morning by the Libyan Prime Minister denying Libya’s culpability for the killing of WPC Yvonne Fletcher and the Lockerbie bombing, the PMOS said that obviously we would want to clarify those comments with the Libyan authorities. The PMOS pointed out that there did seem to be some disparity between those comments and the letter that the Libyan Government sent to the President of the UN Security Council about Lockerbie, which says in paragraph 3 "Libya accepts responsibility for the actions of its officials". In terms of WPC Fletcher, the Libya Foreign Minister had said when he was here meeting the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary that "We were going to work on this issue as we were going to work on other issues with the spirit of co-operation, transparency and honesty." There were disparities there which the Government would wish to resolve with Libya. The Libyans also in 1999 accepted general responsibility for the shooting of WPC Fletcher, after which we restored diplomatic relations, and Libya has paid compensation to WPC Fletcher’s family as well. Asked how were seeking to clarify the position, the PMOS said the clarification would come through the normal channels. If we looked at what had happened on the ground and if we looked at the actions Libya had taken and look at what it had said to the UN, the picture is a slightly different one.
Asked if the Prime Minister still intended to visit Libya, the PMOS said our intentions were as we had stated before. These were to pursue the goals in terms of WMD and restoring normal diplomatic relations. Nothing had changed in that position. At the same time Libya as we had said at the same time as the Foreign Minister’s visit here and as he recognised was well aware of our position on WPC Fletcher and indeed on Lockerbie. Questioned further the PMOS said that it had always been part of the context for any visit that Libya was well aware of our position and the need to make to make progress.
Guantanamo Bay
Asked if the Prime Minister agreed with David Blunkett who had said today that the prisoners in Guantanamo Bay had not had a fair, open, transparent treatment, the PMOS said that the Prime Minister and the Government had made clear its reservations. At the same time we had worked with the American authorities for a resolution of these problems and continued to do so.
BBC Licence Fees
Asked if the Prime Minister was still committed to Licence Fees as a way of funding the BBC, the PMOS referred journalists to what Tessa Jowell had said previously. She had said that it would be improbable if not impossible to find an alternative. That remained the position. These were matters which were considered as part of the Charter Review, as they were with every Charter Review, so that was nothing new.
delicious
digg
facebook
