Briefing from the Prime Minister’s spokesman on: the Cabinet, child protection, Government efficiency, Northern Ireland and misc
Cabinet
The Prime Minister’s Spokesman (PMS) began by telling the assembled journalists what had been discussed at Cabinet. There was an update from Ed Balls and the Children’s Minister Beverley Hughes on where we were on child protection issues in light of the “Baby P” case.
There had been a brief update from the Northern Ireland Secretary on the situation in Northern Ireland and in particular the latest state of play on where we were on devolution of police and criminal justice, the final stage of devolution in Northern Ireland.
Most of Cabinet was spent discussing the Government’s efficiency and value for money in public spending programmes. This was on the basis of a lengthy presentation from the Chief Secretary. She reminded Cabinet that in relation to the original Gershon Spending Review 2004, we had delivered £26.5billion of efficiency savings against the initial target of £21.5billion. The civil service workforce had been reduced by 86,700 against a target of 70,600 and civil service numbers were now at their lowest level since 1945.
For this spending review period, the Chancellor had announced in the PBR last year that we would be setting a target of £30billion. The Chief Secretary again reminded Cabinet that in the Budget we had said that there might be scope to go beyond that and that was why we had launched a further efficiency round and that really formed the basis of the discussion at Cabinet this morning. The detail of that was set out in a press notice that the Chief Secretary issued on the 3rd July 2008.
There was quite a lengthy discussion about how we could go beyond the £30billion target that was announced in the PBR. This centred on five main areas.
There was a review of back-office and IT which, as we had announced in July, was being led by Martin Reid, the former Chief Executive of Logica; there was a review of collaborative procurement, which was being led by Martin Jay, the chair of Invensys; there was a review of asset management and asset sales, which was being led by Gerry Grimstone, the chair of Standard Life and there was a review of the Government’s property portfolio, which was led by Lord Carter of Coles.
We were also looking at what more we could do to raise efficiency by improving local incentives and local empowerment.
Child Protection
Asked for more details of the update given by Ed Balls, the PMS said it was really a summary of the events of the last week and the action that the Government had announced in recent days.
Asked if there was any sense of surprise around the Cabinet table that no one had resigned over the “Baby P” case, the PMS said that the sense in Cabinet was that it was right that we examined exactly what had happened in this very tragic case. Ed Balls had sent in the inspectors to Haringey and they were expected to report back by the 1st December. Before we took any further action it was important that we looked at what the inspectors had to say. There was support for the general approach that Ed Balls and the Children’s Minister were taking on this.
Asked if there was a sense of outrage around the Cabinet table, the PMS said that everybody and that included the whole of the Cabinet was outraged by what had happened in this case and by the terrible way this child had been treated. There was no ambiguity about that.
Put that the Government did not have the power to sack people in this instance, the PMS said that people should check the exact legal standing with the department.
Put that Ed Balls had the power to send in a new management team to take over Haringey Social Services and was that something the Prime Minister would support, the PMS said that what the Prime Minister believed was that it was important that this issue was dealt with as a matter of great urgency and that was why Ed Balls had sent in a team of inspectors to examine the situation urgently in Haringey. They would be reporting back by the 1st December. It was at that point that we would then decide what the next steps were.
Government Efficiency
Put that the PMS had said that the Chief Secretary had stated that there was scope to go beyond the figures mentioned, the PMS replied that what the Chief Secretary did say was that the Chancellor would be updating the House in the PBR on what the interim conclusions were of the reviews of the five work-streams that would take us beyond the £30billion. Asked for a timescale on the £30billion, the PMS said that this would be over the period of this spending review.
Asked if this would entail huge job cuts and was this the message that the Government wanted to send to the country at the moment, the PMS said that the message the Government wanted to send to the public at the moment was that the Government would do everything possible to help the economy, to help families and to help businesses now. It was clear, as was becoming widely accepted around the world, that what the economy needed was immediate help and that was what we would be setting out in the PBR.
Of course it was essential that the Government got the best value for money for every penny it spent and that was why we initiated the process with the Gershon Review and we had overachieved on the targets in that. We had set out a very stretching target for this spending review period and we had said in the Budget that we thought there was scope to go even beyond that target.
There had been a lot of detailed work that had been undertaken by the Treasury and other departments since the Budget on the efficiency programme and it was right that we achieved the best value for money. It was also right that we provided immediate help for families and businesses now and that was what we would be doing in the PBR.
Asked how this would help civil servants who had been made redundant, the PMS said we were talking about a programme over a number of years. The Prime Minister was very clear in his speech in New York that we were not in the business of protecting jobs. What this was about was that if people did lose their jobs, they got help from the Government to ensure that they had the skills and that they were aware of the opportunities so that they could move into another job as quickly as possible.
Asked if there had been any discussion about delaying some projects, the PMS said that the focus was on the efficiency saving and what we could do in order to ensure we got best value for money on how we could move beyond the £30billion target we had already set ourselves.
Northern Ireland
Asked if we were getting to a crunch-point in negotiations, the PMS advised people to wait and see how things progressed. Asked for any more detail on what was said this morning, the PMS said that the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland set out the very good progress that was being made by the parties in Northern Ireland in their talks on the devolution of the police and criminal justice.
The key difference about where we were now and where we were previously was that the discussion was being led very much by the parties in Northern Ireland and not by the British and Irish Governments. It was being left to the parties in Northern Ireland to find a settlement that they could both live with and they had been making very good progress on that. Asked if the dissident threat was mentioned, the PMS said he would not get into the specifics of the Cabinet discussion, but he did emphasise that not withstanding the views of what was now a very small minority in Northern Ireland, very good progress was being made towards the devolution of policing and criminal justice.
Misc
Asked if the issue of the Saudi oil tanker captured by pirates off the coast of Somalia was raised at Cabinet, the PMS said that it had not come up.
Asked if business rates had come up, the PMS said there was no detailed discussion on any tax matters. Asked how long political Cabinet had lasted, the PMS said around 45 minutes.
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