Briefing from the Prime Minister’s Spokesman on: G20 Summit, redundancies, Baby P, banking, Defence, organ donation and benefits
G20 Summit
Asked if he could rule out talks with Senator Obama at the G20 Summit, the Prime Minister’s Spokesman (PMS) told the assembled press that Senator Obama had made clear that he would not be attending the G20 Summit and would be sending representatives in his place. As we had said consistently in the last few weeks, there were no plans for a meeting.
Redundancies
Put that RBS had announced that they would be making job cuts and did the Prime Minister have a reaction to the news, the PMS replied that as he had said yesterday on the subject of job cuts, we had great sympathy with people who were faced with redundancy and we would do everything we could to get people back into work.
There were estimated to be more than half a million jobs still available in the UK and in the last quarter, 260,000 people signed on whereas 230,000 people signed off. So there were opportunities available and we would do everything we could to get people into jobs.
Baby P
Asked when the Prime Minister was made aware that two separate Government departments had been contacted over the Baby P case, the PMS said he would have to check. The Prime Minister had stayed in very close touch with the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families and had clearly taken a close interest in what had been a very tragic case.
DCSF had given a response on the issue and the Secretary of State had spoken about the issue this morning. There was an appropriate organisation for complaints regarding social care and it was right that complaints were directed to the Commission for Social Care Inspectorate (CSCI) to take the appropriate action. The PMS added that as he understood, the details of this were passed to the person making the complaint. As we had indicated this morning, the Permanent Secretary at DCSF had looked into this and we were confident that the proper procedures were followed.
Asked if the Prime Minister was concerned that it all looked a little procedural, the PMS said that he rejected that allegation. It was right that we had guidelines and it was right that we had procedures that were followed in the cases of social care and particularly children’s welfare. This was why we had an organisation to administer complaints about the quality of social care.
Asked if Ministers had actually seen the letter of complaint, the PMS said that people should talk to the relevant departments on that. Asked when the Prime Minister had known about the letters, the PMS said he would have to come back to people on that.
Asked if the enquiry launched by Ed Balls into Haringey Council’s handling of the case should be extended to include the conduct of the Ministers and Social Care Inspectorate now that it had emerged that warnings had been issued some months before, the PMS said that on the terms of reference for the enquiry ordered by the Secretary of State, people would need to speak to DCSF.
Put that the Departments could have forwarded the complaint themselves, the PMS said it was his understanding and people would have to check this with DCSF, that the response they sent to the legal team’s letter was copied to the Inspectorate. There was an authority there that had been set up specifically to inspect and ensure standards were upheld in social care across local Government. That was the appropriate place for a complaint about a particular local authority handling of childrens welfare.
Put that as of this morning the CSCI could not confirm whether or not they had received the letter, the PMS replied that it was right that they conducted a thorough investigation of their records to ensure they had all the facts to hand.
Banking
Asked how the Prime Minister could square the news that there would be no Government representatives on the boards of part-nationalised banks, which was in contrast to comments made by the Chancellor in the House of Commons, the PMS said he did not think that there was any contradiction.
We made clear at the time that we would operate at arms length and that we would still operate influence over the banks, that we agreed the conditions of government assistance but that the mechanism for ensuring that the agreement was adhered to was arms length.
Asked if he was saying that the Government never suggested that there would be Government representatives on the boards of banks, the PMS replied that on the specifics of the Chancellor’s statements, he would refer people to the Treasury. We had always made clear that we would exercise arms-length control.
Defence
Asked if the Prime Minister agreed with Richard Dannatt’s comments that there was no cheap option for Defence, the PMS said that the Government’s actions in recent months demonstrated that we would make the proper investment to ensure that our armed services had everything they needed to carry out their jobs effectively.
Asked about the BBC report that said 2000 more British troops would be sent to Afghanistan, the PMS said that the Prime Minister had made the position clear on the level of forces in Afghanistan on Tuesday at his press conference when he had said that we would not comment on unsourced rumours.
Asked for the Prime Minister’s full comments, the PMS, paraphrasing, replied that the Prime Minister had said that we were in discussion with the US about our overall strategy in Afghanistan and decisions on the level of forces required would be made following recommendations from Commanders on the ground.
Organ Donation
Asked whether the Prime Minister still thought we should opt out of rather than opt in to organ donation and what was his reaction to the story in the Times this morning, the PMS said that specifically on the story in the Times, the report on organ donation would be published shortly and we would not comment on the contents of it beforehand. The report would be more detailed than perhaps some of the media reports this morning had suggested. The Prime Minister had made his position clear in the past and it was important to remember that the overall objective was to raise the rate of organ donation and that we were willing to consider all proposals that had that goal. Asked if the Prime Minister had seen the report yet, the PMS said he would not comment in detail on the report.
Benefits
Put that there were media reports this morning on a crackdown on benefits and was this an appropriate time to be doing this, the PMS said that what we were looking to do at all times was to ensure that where people could work, we helped them to do that. If there were any specific proposals, they would be made at the appropriate time.
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