Briefing from the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman on: PM Speech/Public Services, Iran, International Development, Europe (European Constitution, European Commission President) and Euro 2004.
PM Speech/Public Services
The Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman (PMOS) briefed journalists on the Prime Minister’s speech tomorrow on public services. The Prime Minister would stake out what he called ‘the battleground for the future of our public services’ in a keynote speech the day before the NHS Improvement Plan was published in Parliament by John Reid. He would argue that the extra investment and reform the Government had committed in recent years had brought real improvements in terms of capacity and performance across the public services. Recent reports from the NHS Chief Executive and the NHS Modernisation Board showed the progress that had been made in the health service for example. Waiting times had fallen dramatically and deaths from the big killers - heart disease and cancer - were down. The Prime Minister believed the progress provided the platform to drive forward with the next and most significant stage of reform and develop what he called the ‘new generation of personalised services’.
He would say: "With growing capacity in our public services we can now accelerate reform. We have the opportunity to develop a new generation of personalised services where equity and excellence go hand in hand - services shaped by the needs of those who use them, services with more choice extended to everyone and not just those that can afford to pay, services personal to each and fair to all. This is the battleground for the future of our public services."
He would argue that we needed to reshape the 1945 welfare state so as to keep the values of equality of opportunity and access, combining them with excellence and high standards for all as we personalised services. We needed to ensure that the middle class continued to see public services as for them and that the coalition of support for universal public services remained.
He would argue that without increasing capacity in the public services any talk of extending choice was meaningless. Equally, without an extension of choice to everyone we would not have public services which genuinely put the patient, the parent, the pupil and the law-abiding citizen first.
Asked what was meant by ‘personalised services’, the PMOS said that further details would be set out in the Prime Minister’s speech and in each of the improvement plans due to be published in the weeks and months to come. It meant that the public services people used were not one-size-fits-all but a genuine reflection of the needs of individuals. Put to him that readers of the Daily Telegraph "wouldn’t have a clue what he was talking about", the PMOS said that the NHS improvement plan, due to be published on Thursday, would set out the details. The Prime Minister’s speech tomorrow would contain a broad statement of principles from which each detailed public service improvement plans would flow. Asked to give an example of personalised services, the PMOS said that people already had the right to choose whether to wait for an appointment at one hospital or go for an appointment at another to speed up the process.
Asked what "expansion" would entail, the PMOS pointed out that it was already happening in the NHS and the education system where capacity was being increased. The CSR would take the programme further forward.
Questioned about the fall in mortality rates from the "big killers", the PMOS pointed out that in A&E departments across the country, nine out of ten patients were seen treated within four hours; 93% of patients were now offered an appointment with their GP within 48 hours of improvement. In addition, cancer death rates had fallen by 10%; coronary heart disease had fallen by over 20% in less than six years. This was pretty concrete proof of improvements being made within the NHS.
Asked if the Prime Minister’s ideas were really as radical as foundation hospitals and tuition fees for example in the light of the fact that some Government backbenchers might get a bit jittery when hearing talk of ‘accelerating reform’ and ‘reshaping the welfare state’, the PMOS said that the detail of what was being proposed would be set out in each departmental improvement plan. The Prime Minister’s basic message was that the principles of equality of opportunity and access were values which would continue, but only if they were combined with excellence and high standards for all. The truth of the matter was that public services, like the rest of society, did not stand still. As expectations rose, it was up to the Government to meet them in its provision of the country’s public services.
Asked if the Prime Minister was ‘hinting’ at greater collaboration with the private sector to increase capacity in our public services, the PMOS pointed out that we had been using the private sector for some time in the health service to increase capacity - to the benefit of many NHS patients. The key point was whether the service remained free at the point of delivery. We were determined that that founding principle would continue. Put to him that the use of the private sector would undermine the Government’s message to the middle classes that public services were for them, the PMOS said that he would disagree. The middle classes wanted to know that they would receive a high quality service free at the point of delivery. The use of the private sector was a means to that end.
Iran
Asked if the Prime Minister was concerned about the continuing detention of eight British military personnel in Iran, the PMOS said that of course we remained concerned. We had been in contact with the Iranian authorities at different levels and locations and would continue to speak to them to try to resolve the issue as quickly and as easily as possible for all concerned. We would also continue to keep the relatives of those detained in Iran informed of any developments. Asked if the Prime Minister was concerned that the detainees had been paraded on Iranian television, the PMOS said that we would continue to underline to the Iranian Government that we expected those being held to be treated in accordance with the relevant international criteria. Our view would be underlined once again this afternoon in a meeting with the Iranian Ambassador.
Asked if he continued to stand by his statement this morning that the eight Marines and Royal Navy sailors had been engaged in a training exercise with Iraqis when they were captured, the PMOS said the Foreign Office had confirmed that they had been involved in an entirely routine exercise. Put to him that the MoD had said that the eight Britons had been delivering a boat, the PMOS said that as he understood it, the delivery of the boat had been part of our efforts to help the Iraqi river patrol service to equip itself.
Asked if the Prime Minister might get involved, the PMOS said that as he had told journalists this morning, the Foreign Secretary had spoken to his opposite number in Tehran earlier today. We were still awaiting a formal response to that conversation. Asked if we were any clearer about which elements of the Iranian Government were responsible for the detention of the Britons, the PMOS said that we would await the formal response of the Iranian Government to the conversations that had been taking place today. He took the opportunity to point out that they had denied that the eight were to be prosecuted.
International Development
Asked for a reaction to comments made by Bob Geldof about the Government’s spending on aid to developing countries, the PMOS said that since we were in the run-up to the CSR, it was important that any remarks relating to Government spending were seen in that context. He took the opportunity to point out that by 2005/6 we would have committed £1bn in aid to Africa. In addition, the increase in aid since 1997 amounted to 97% in real terms, which in a growing GDP meant that we would have increased our aid from 0.26% of GDP to 0.4% by next year. That was a strong indication that we were putting our money where our mouths were.
Europe
(European Constitution)
Asked for a reaction to Chris Patten’s criticism of the Prime Minister’s decision to hold a referendum on the European Constitution, the PMOS said that Mr Patten was obviously entitled to express his opinion, which we recognised was consistent with his long term view. However, as the Prime Minister had underlined on Friday, while he believed that it was proper for Parliament to scrutinise the Treaty, he felt that it was also right for people to have their say given the controversy around it. This was because he thought that it would offer an opportunity to separate the myth from the reality in terms of what was actually in the Treaty.
(European Commission President)
Asked about the Irish Presidency’s decision to hold another Summit to discuss nominations for the job of European Commission President, the PMOS said that as he understood it, it would only take place if there was a consensus as to who the new Commission President should be. Asked if the UK would be putting forward any names, the PMOS said that it was up to the Taoiseach to decide where the consensus was. Discussions about this issue were continuing to take place among all twenty-five EU members.
Euro 2004
Asked if the Prime Minister had watched last night’s England v Croatia match, the PMOS said yes. He was obviously delighted at the result. No doubt he would be anxious, like the rest of the country, to see the outcome of Thursday night’s game against Portugal.
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