Briefing from the Prime Minister’s spokesman on: Small Business meeting, Iceland, Baby P, economy, CAP reform and Kosovo
Small Business meeting
Asked for a readout of the Prime Minister’s meeting with small business leaders, the Prime Minister’s Spokesman (PMS) replied that this was one of a series of meetings that the Prime Minister was having in order to listen to the concerns of business at this difficult time, particularly small and medium sized businesses. We recognised that they were facing a difficult time at the moment. There was a very constructive discussion at the breakfast meeting this morning, and the Government stood ready to do what it could to provide further assistance to small business to help them get through this period.
Asked if lending was discussed, the PMS replied that he was not going to get into the specifics of exactly what was discussed, but obviously issues relating to bank lending were a very serious concern for many businesses at the moment, which was why the Government was talking to them to see what more we could do to help them.
Iceland
Asked about the reports of the UK lending money to Iceland, the PMS replied that the reality of the situation was that the £2.2 billion that was being reported was not new money that was going to Iceland, it just represented the Icelandic Government’s liability to the UK. So it was money that they owed to us that had not been paid back yet, so in that sense it was described as a loan to them. The details had yet to be worked out, but as part of the IMF announcement today we had confirmed that the Icelandic Government was liable for a sum of £2.2 billion, and we would work out the time period for payment in the next few weeks. So this was money that they owed us and we were just crystallising that, and as part of the discussions around the IMF loan we would discuss a timetable for repayment.
Asked if this was a new loan, the PMS replied that this was not a new amount of money.
Asked how this tied in with the Dutch/German/UK loan that was being worked out, the PMS replied that it was best to check with the Treasury. The UK liability was £2.2 billion, but this was simply the money that they owed to us, that we effectively needed to formalise into a loan and work out a period over which that could be repaid.
Asked if this money predated the crisis in the Icelandic banking sector, the PMS replied that it was money that was owed to us as a result of the problems that arose in the Icelandic banking system.
Asked if it was the money that Local Councils had invested, the PMS replied that it was best to check with the Treasury exactly what the £2.2 billion comprised of. This was money that they owed to us that would be formalised and made part of a loan as part of the IMF agreement, and we would work out details of the repayment of the loan over the weeks ahead.
Asked if that would be with interest, the PMS replied that the time period and the terms of the repayment of the loan would be worked out in the weeks ahead.
Baby ‘P’
Put that the Secretary of State for Children, Schools, and Families had said in the House that he was prevented from publishing the Serious Case Review for Baby ‘P’ after it had been assessed by the Information Commissioner, the PMS replied that as people knew, there was an exchange on this in the house earlier. In a previous case, a Local Authority received an FoI request from the media for a copy of the full Serious Case Overview Report in that particular case, and the Information Commissioner upheld the Local Authorities’ refusal to release that report. The Information Commissioner said that disclosure of the report would render the Serious Case Review process unable to fulfil its purpose. He recognised the public interest in holding local authorities to account for their performance, and obviously that was something that did need to be taken into account. But he concluded that the overriding public interest must be the protection of children, and our position on this was that disclosure would undermine the process of serious case reviews and their purpose which was to learn lessons. The inspectors were currently in Harringey, they would produce a report by the beginning of December, and Ed Balls did say today that as soon as he had studied their report, he would publish it and the actions that we would take.
Asked if there was not concern that MPs were being denied access to this report, the PMS replied that all he could do was repeat the exchanges that had taken place in the House. There had been an FoI request put in, the Information Commissioner did look at it, and he had to look at the balance of public interest. He recognised that there were arguments in favour of publishing, but he concluded that the overriding public interest must be the protection of the children, and that was best served by not publishing the individual reports.
Economy
Asked about an EU stimulus package, and did we have a view on whether Germany should be doing more than they were, the PMS replied that it was not really for us to tell other countries what they should be doing. The Prime Minister was a big advocate of coordinated action on fiscal policy in this instance, because if we acted together then the impact of an individual stimulus in one country is that much greater. So we were certainly supportive of coordinated action, that was what he was arguing for at the G20 meeting last week, and we were of course in close contact with our European colleagues, but it was really for individual Governments to comment on their own positions and make any announcements.
Asked if that meant we did not support the idea of an EU led stimulus package, the PMS replied that obviously tax and spend was a matter for national governments and national parliaments, and clearly there would need to be proper parliamentary procedures that would need to be respected. In our case, as it happened, we were announcing our plans on Monday.
CAP Reform
Asked if the Government was disappointed with the lack of Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform, given that we agreed to give up part of our rebate, the PMS replied that there was a review on CAP that had not yet concluded. We were strong supporters of reform of the CAP, the Prime Minister in particular was a big advocate of CAP reform, and we would continue to make our case vigorously in the European Union.
Kosovo
Asked if there was anything to report from the Prime Minister’s meeting with the Kosovan leader, the PMS replied that the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary made clear that the UK was absolutely committed to stability in Kosovo and the Balkans. Kosovo’s independence brought long awaited certainty and permanence to Kosovo’s identity. But there were challenges; we remained committed to working with the UN, EU and NATO to ensure a safe and secure environment across Kosovo, and that was the message that the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary delivered.
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