Downing Street Says » 2005

» Wednesday, November 16, 2005

Child Support Agency

Asked what the Prime Minister had meant when he said at PMQs today that the Child Support Agency (CSA) was not properly suited to its task, the PMOS replied that as people knew, there was a new Chief Executive of the CSA who had launched a review into the operation structure and performance of the CSA. Therefore, all the Prime Minister was doing was spelling out some of the issues that the review had to address. The review would report either at the end of this year, or next.

Briefing took place at 6:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

Pensions

Asked what was it that the Prime Minister apparently regretted, as referred to in the Times today, on the public sector pensions deal, the PMOS said that we had set out at the time of the pension agreement why we believed it had delivered the savings that we said it would. It would save £13bn between now and 2050. In terms of future pensions the Turner report would be coming out on the 30 November. As such it was better to speak in that broad context when it came out. Asked whether the Prime Minister regretted that he was accused of caving to the unions, that he wasn't consulted or that it happened, the PMOS said that Alan Johnson had made the agreement within the terms agreed by the Cabinet. In terms of the publicity at the time it was for journalists to judge for themselves. Put to him that the Times article was quite specific in saying that he regretted not just the publicity but also the deal, the PMOS referred journalists to what he had said at the time which was that we believed the deal had delivered the saving that we had required within the overall envelope of the agreement. Asked whether anything had changed since the Prime Minister was asked about it at his monthly press conference, the PMOS said there had been no developments. Asked where the Times got their story, the PMOS said that was a matter for the Times.

Briefing took place at 6:00 | Read whole briefing | Comment (1)

Mrs. Blair’s speeches/declarations

Asked why the Prime Minister had declared Mrs Blair's speeches that she had made in Washington, Australia and New Zealand, the PMOS said that in terms of precedent, the Prime Minister did not have to declare them. If people looked at the previous Administration, Mr. Major did not register royalties received by his wife when she wrote a book on Chequers, for example. The Prime Minister decided to register these benefits in July so that everyone knew that they were "on the books" and to err on the side of caution. The Prime Minister felt it was best to be open and transparent.

Briefing took place at 6:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (7)

David Blunkett

Asked why David Blunkett was being allowed to hold onto his grace and favour residence, the PMOS said that the premise of the question was mistaken. David Blunkett had made it clear to the Prime Minister when he resigned that he would be moving out of his residence, but as with all former Home Secretaries there were security considerations which other people did not have. These meant the process took a little longer as it took time to get those security considerations in place. In answer to further questions the PMOS said that it had only been a matter of weeks since David Blunkett's resignation and the security considerations had been as such for previous Home Secretaries as well. Being a former Home Secretary did put you in a different category.

Briefing took place at 6:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (5)

Pensions/Retirement Age

Asked if the Prime Minister regretted not acting in some way in relation to the retirement age of 60 for civil servants, and was the Prime Minister planning to leave it as it stood, or would there be some reforms, the PMOS said he was not aware of any plans to revisit the issue. As he had said earlier today, the savings which the agreement would deliver amounted to £13 billion between now and 2050. Therefore, that was why the Government believed that this was a good deal. That remained the position as we stated at the time, and it remained our position.

Briefing took place at 6:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

Alcohol Related Crime

Asked if the Prime Minister agreed with Tessa Jowell said about a rise in crime once the Licensing Act started, the PMOS said as misquoted remarks went, it was a classic. What the Secretary of State actually said was that because the police were concentrating on a particular area, it was likely that more convictions would occur.

Briefing took place at 6:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

» Tuesday, November 15, 2005

24 Hour Licensing

Asked if the Prime Minister agreed with Tessa Jowell that there may be a rise in alcohol-related crime as a result of the Licensing Bill, the Prime Minister's Official Spokesman (PMOS) said that the important point was what we had were the powers to deal with premises and individuals who did not live up to their obligations. Communities had more powers to deal with either problem premises, or problem individuals than they did before.

Briefing took place at 17:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

Tourism Breakfast

The Prime Minister's Official Spokesman (PMOS) advised journalists that the Prime Minister had hosted a breakfast meeting this morning for leading representatives of the UK tourism industry. Attendees had included Tessa Jowell, Secretary of State for DCMS, James Purnell, the Tourism Minister, Lord Coe and representatives from Visit Britain, Centre Parcs and the Hilton Group, amongst others.

Briefing took place at 17:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (2)

Bird Flu

Put to the PMOS that a report from DEFRA today suggested that the public was misled by the Government, as Michael Jack had said today in a Select Committee that "it woz the parrot that didn't do it", so why had there been a Government cover-up on bird flu, the PMOS replied that the question was going slightly further than the facts. The PMOS said the bottom line was that the quarantine process had worked. Any sensible system was reviewed when there was actual experience to see how it had worked in practice. The quarantine had worked, as the birds were caught in the quarantine, and there was no evidence of any animals being let out of quarantine that were affected, though he acknowledged that the parrot had to be posthumously pardoned!

Briefing took place at 17:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (2)

Afghanistan

Asked to comment on today's Guardian splash which claimed that the UK was consulting Australia, New Zealand, Canada and other countries in order to set up a counter-insurgency coalition to combat al-Qaida and Taliban fighters in the south of Afghanistan once US forces withdrew next year, the PMOS said that he was as mystified to see the story on the Guardian's front page today as he had been to see a report on the same issue on ITN last night. He pointed out that this had first been announced in June 2004 at the Istanbul NATO Summit, at which we had said that the UK would take over command of ISAF from May 2006 to February 2007 and that we would deploy the Headquarters element of the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC).

Briefing took place at 17:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

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» Wednesday, November 16, 2005

Child Support Agency

Pensions

Mrs. Blair’s speeches/declarations

David Blunkett

Pensions/Retirement Age

Alcohol Related Crime

» Tuesday, November 15, 2005

24 Hour Licensing

Tourism Breakfast

Bird Flu

Afghanistan

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