Press briefing from the Prime Minister’s Spokesman on: Climate Change meeting, Public Service speech, NHS Meeting, Counter Terrorism, Flags and Admiralty House
Meeting with Corporate Leaders Group - Climate Change
The Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman (PMOS) stressed to journalists that the Government was in total agreement about the need to give certainty to business. That was why we had said that there needed to be agreement on stabilisation goals. That was also why we pushed climate changes so hard at the G8 last year and in October there would be a follow up meeting on that in Mexico. The Prime Minister has said, despite what some of the coverage this morning seemed to indicate, that we needed to give certainty to business so that they could confidently invest in the R&D.
Public Service Speech
Asked if it was fair to say that there was nothing particularly new in the Prime Minister’s speech on reinventing government, the PMOS said what the speech did was pull together the themes that the Prime Minister had been developing in terms of his attitude to public service reform as a whole, and take them further. The Conference today had a variety of speakers such as John Hutton and David Miliband as well as speakers from Canada and elsewhere talking about public service reform.
The four key principles that the Prime Minister would set out were about setting minimum standards, creating mechanisms of choice, allowing providers to contest provision, and breaking down the traditional demarcation. These key things could be applied to health, education, crime and so forth and were all vital to reform. The top line message from the Prime Minister was that you had to put the investment in first of all, but to convince the public that that investment had been worthwhile, you had to change the service to meet the needs and expectations of the 21st century. As the Prime Minister says in his speech, the public sector was not a monument that shouldn’t be changed. It had to be a living organism.
Put to him that the pronouncements in the Prime Minister’s speech about harnessing the power of nano-technology and so forth didn’t square with the costly IT problems of the NHS and other public services, the PMOS said that although it might have passed some people by, the Prime Minister had spoken about nano-technology on a number of occasions as well as the rapid developments in IT. The reality was, and this would affect public service just as much as it affected newspapers, broadcasting and every other aspect of life, that technology was developing faster than ever before.
One of the themes of the Prime Minister’s speech was that change was something which couldn’t be avoided and which affected people’s expectations of public services. Public services had to keep up with the pace of change. Of course there were individual problems, but if you looked at the Health Service, and the Prime Minister gave the example of Nurse practitioners, change was happening. It was happening in the way that doctors operated, it was happening in the way that nurses operated, changes were happening throughout the public services. We had to keep up with that pace of change, you couldn’t just say that because there were particular problems in particular areas that meant you stopped all change, life didn’t work that way.
NHS meeting
Asked what had come out of the breakfast meeting with FTSE companies concerning the governance of NHS foundation trusts, the PMOS said that what it showed was that there was a genuine enthusiasm for foundation trusts. Each of the participants this morning believed that foundation trusts were making a real difference in their areas. Equally the business participants believed, and this fitted in with the theme of the speech, that they could make a genuine contribution to making the service more effective and by making it more effective deliver a better service for the patients. Asked which people had signed up, the PMOS said that there were already people involved but people should talk to the Department of Health for the detail.
Counter-Terrorism
Asked how regularly the Prime Minister was briefed on the ongoing terrorism operation in the UK, the PMOS said that the Prime Minister was briefed when he needed to be briefed. The frequency depended on the need. He hoped people understood why he wouldn’t say any more on that.
Flags
Asked to explain the situation concerning the Prime Minister’s car sporting England flags, the PMOS said that the Prime Minister would give his support in his own way, in his own time. People should be in no doubt that the Prime Minister fully supported the England team, as indeed would his spokesman despite his origins.
Asked if there was a specific security or protocol reasons why the Prime Minister’s car couldn’t have flags, given that Tessa Jowell’s car would have, the PMOS said that there were particular circumstances, however the Prime Minister would indicate his support in his own way. In response to suggestions by the Evening Standard that the Prime Minister might wear an England suit, the PMOS said that he would be happy to consider the issue if the Standard’s political editor gave a lead on the matter. Asked if other ministers might have flags on their cars, the PMOS said it was up to individuals. Asked if the Prime Minister was disappointed the some individuals such as Sean Connery and Andy Murray had said they would support any team other than England, the PMOS said it was a matter of individual choice. The important thing was that Tessa Jowell had clearly indicated the Government’s view yesterday.
Admiralty House
Asked why Des Browne had declined to take up residence at Admiralty House, the PMOS said that he refer all estate agency questions to the Cabinet Office.
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