Downing Street Says » 2006

» Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Foreign Prisoners

Asked when the Prime Minister first heard that over 1000 foreign prisoners in the UK had been released rather than deported, the Prime Minister's Official Spokesman (PMOS) said that what was important was that we had put our hands up and said that we recognised that what had happened was deeply regrettable to say the least. There was clearly a failure to deal with all the cases in the way they should have been dealt with. What was now important was that we had increased resources in this area, increasing the IND's caseworking capacity with an extra £2.7million allocated within IND to deal with foreign national prisoners. This would allow us to commence deportation proceedings 12 months before a prisoner was due for release to ensure that prisoners were removed from the country at the appropriate time. In recognition of how this problem arose, Charles Clarke has said that he would bring together the key players involved at least twice a year at ministerial level and quarterly at official level to create and take ownership of an effective strategy for dealing with these issues. We recognised there was a problem, we regretted that problem but we had set out a series of very practical steps to deal with it.

Briefing took place at 17:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (6)

Tax Credits

Asked if the Prime Minister still had confidence in the tax credit system following recent criticism of its performance, the Prime Minister's Official Spokesman (PMOS) said that the Prime Minister fully supported the Treasury's approach. In terms of giving tax credits to those who needed them, 6 million families including 10 million children had benefited from around £15billion of tax credits. Further measures had been introduced in the PBR to address the problems that had arisen. For detail however people should talk to the Treasury.

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

Families against the War

Asked if the Prime Minister would be meeting the Families Against the War group this week, the PMOS said there were established procedures for arranging such meetings. He had no doubt that if those procedures were followed there would be a suitable response.

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

Iran

Asked for a reaction to comments by the Iranian President concerning Israel, the PMOS said that he thought that everyone should read the Iranian president's comments because they underlined, once again, the reasons why we had to take the situation very seriously. These were not casual remarks made by somebody without power. These were remarks, repeatedly made by the Iranian president which were, in terms of the Holocaust, not only offensive and factually inaccurate but also were threatening to Israel. That was why we had to take the issues which were now before the UN very seriously. Mr ElBarradei would report this week on these issues and take them forward with due seriousness.

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

Egypt Bombings

Asked about the launch of a Government campaign to consumers to encourage healthier lifestyles, the PMOS said that it was a fact that in terms of the impact of health advice, those messages a teenager might receive in a shop were likely to have as much or perhaps even a bigger impact than messages elsewhere. Therefore it was important that we worked with the retail industry to deliver healthy messages. Supermarkets and other outlets were already responding in terms of messaging for a healthy lifestyle, not just in terms of what they sold but in the messages that were on the products they sold.

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

» Monday, April 24, 2006

NHS

Asked about the problem of public perception of the National Health Service, the Prime Minister's Official Spokesman (PMOS) said that if you looked at the figures, which showed that people's experience of treatment in the NHS showed high levels of satisfaction, over 70%. These figures were generally accepted as accurate, since there had been a recurring theme across all polls on this issue. We should also acknowledge that people's overall perception of the NHS was different because of the messages they got about particular problems. That was a perception gap which we had to accept was there, but it was equally legitimate for us to point to the fact that there were more NHS nurses today than this time last year and there were more NHS doctors than ever before. Furthermore if you looked at the outcomes in terms of waiting lists and the number of operations those were at record highs. So in terms of actual performance, which was what it ultimately all came down to, the NHS was performing for the people it was meant to be performing for, the patients.

Briefing took place at 16:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (4)

Prime Minister’s Questions

Asked by Sky News if it was true that the Prime Minister prepared for Prime Minister's Questions wearing shorts and a T-shirt, the PMOS said that he didn't think it would be wise for him to stray into the territory that some former ambassadors had entered by discussing the attire of Prime Ministers. So his answer was that the Prime Minister was suitably attired whenever he appeared in the House of Commons.

Briefing took place at 16:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

» Friday, April 21, 2006

Queen’s Birthday Gift

The Prime Minister's Official Spokesman (PMOS) confirmed to journalists that the Queen had received her gift from the Cabinet. Asked what the present was, the PMOS said it was a tea set from Spode, Britain oldest pottery company based in Staffordshire. It was a Staffordshire flowers style tea set, something that the Palace had indicated that the Queen would specifically like. Asked if it was correct that the Cabinet had put in £30 each, the PMOS said that he had been brought up to believe that it was very rude to leave a price tag on presents. Asked who had presented it to the Queen, the PMOS said that it had been conveyed in the normal way. The Cabinet had wanted to give the Queen something that she would value and the Palace had indicated that this was something she would want and like.

Briefing took place at 13:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

Mrs Blair’s Hairdresser

Asked what the arrangements were regarding Mrs Blair's hairdresser on official business, the PMOS said that he would not be getting into today's specific story as it was a party matter. All he would point out was that he had addressed and dealt with this issue repeatedly when asked on various trips and the answer had always been the same - Mrs Blair met the costs, full stop. Asked if he was saying that there had been no instances where the taxpayer had paid for the hairdresser's services, the PMOS said that we had given an answer on each occasion and journalists could go back and check them for themselves. Asked if that was the full fare, the PMOS repeated that we had dealt with this on each appropriate occasion and they could look back in their notes to check. Asked about the recent Australia trip, the PMOS said that he had been asked at the start of the trip and we had indicated that Mrs Blair had met the costs.

Briefing took place at 13:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

Nuclear

Asked to comment on the FT report suggesting that the IEA report saying that nuclear was a good thing was good for the Prime Minister, the PMOS said that Malcolm Wicks was heading up an energy review that would report in the not too distant future. It was considering all the arguments. The PM had been quite open in setting out the arguments for why we needed a mix of energy sources.

Briefing took place at 13:00 | Read whole briefing | Comment (1)

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» Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Foreign Prisoners

Tax Credits

Families against the War

Iran

Egypt Bombings

» Monday, April 24, 2006

NHS

Prime Minister’s Questions

» Friday, April 21, 2006

Queen’s Birthday Gift

Mrs Blair’s Hairdresser

Nuclear

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