Briefing from the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman on: Council Tax, Higher Education, NHS Treatment Centre, Guantanamo Bay, Iraq/WMD and Hutton Report.
Council Tax
Asked for a reaction to reports that the Government was considering plans to reform council tax, the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman (PMOS) said that this story essentially set out what everyone already knew, namely that a Balance of Funding Review had been set up by the Government last year to look at problems of unfairness within the existing system and was currently underway. It was due to report later this year. Obviously there would be a whole menu of different thoughts and suggestions that would come up as a result before final decisions were reached. Questioned further, the PMOS said he was not disputing the fact that a review was taking place - quite clearly it was, as we had already announced. The point was that we would not know its conclusions until later this year. Asked if the introduction of a local income tax to replace council tax was being considered as part of the Review, the PMOS said that given the Prime Minister had said in PMQs last week that that was not going to happen, it was pretty clear in what direction we were travelling - or rather weren’t travelling.
Higher Education
Questioned about the Prime Minister’s speech on higher education on Wednesday, the PMOS said that we had been expecting a vigorous, vibrant debate about the issue following the publication of the Higher Education Bill last week. Asked if the Prime Minister would be meeting MPs in groups or individually to discuss the issue of tuition fees, the PMOS said that it went without saying that the Prime Minister would engage with his parliamentary colleagues between now and the vote on Second Reading. However, we had no intention of giving a running commentary on who was seeing whom and when. As was clear from the Cabinet’s discussion on Thursday, all Cabinet members would go out and mount the arguments and make the case when talking to their parliamentary colleagues.
NHS Treatment Centres
Asked the Prime Minister’s reaction to suggestions that today’s news regarding NHS diagnostic and treatment centres was another move towards the privatisation of the NHS, the PMOS said that we had always made it clear that there would be a mixed economy within the health service. What was important was that the NHS stayed true to its founding principles - that it remained available to all regardless of ability to pay, and based on clinical need. The patients who would be treated at the centres would be NHS patients and would be funded by NHS money true to those principles. In our view, in order to reduce waiting times and offer improved services to patients, it made sense to look at whether we could expand the range of health care providers, as well as carrying out elective surgery in new facilities. Questioned as to whether all or most of the centres would be run by the private sector in the future, the PMOS said that as he understood it, we expected there to be eighty treatment centres by 2005, run by both the independent and public sectors. In answer to further questions, the PMOS said that a fundamental part of the NHS programme of reform related to an increase in capacity. As we had maintained throughout, the NHS was under-doctored and under-nursed. In addition, we did not have the full range of provision which we would like to see in order to ensure that more patients could be treated more quickly. Today’s announcement illustrated what we were doing to overcome these problems and it put the patient first.
Guantanamo Bay
Asked if an announcement about the British Guantanamo Bay detainees would be made this week, the PMOS said that he was unable to be specific about timings at this stage. As the Prime Minister had said, this issue would be resolved one way or the other within the next few weeks. We acknowledged that we had been saying this for some time. However, this was not an indication that nothing was happening. Rather, it illustrated the complexity of the issue and the need for the UK and the US to get things right.
Iraq/WMD
Asked if it was fair to conclude that the Prime Minister was pessimistic about finding WMD in Iraq in the light of his comments during his interview with Sir David Frost yesterday, the PMOS said that the Prime Minister’s words were not really different to what he had been saying over the last few months. It was important for people to be patient and wait for the Iraq Survey Group (ISG) to report. Once that had been received, it would be assessed in its entirety. That said, it was worth pointing out that what the ISG’s interim report had already established would have been in breach of Resolution 1441.
Asked the Prime Minister’s reaction to the allegations which had been made by former US Treasury Secretary, Paul O’Neill, this weekend, the PMOS said that our position was well known. He pointed out that all countries had been trying to resolve the issue through diplomatic channels in the months leading up to the conflict. Resolution 1441 had been the result of the international community - the UK, US, France, Russia, China and others - coming together and presenting an opportunity for the situation to be resolved peacefully. The fact that it hadn’t had been Saddam’s choice. The decision to move to a conflict situation had been taken after it had become clear that it was not going to be possible to obtain a second Resolution for reasons that had been well documented. No one should doubt the serious intent of the Coalition to resolve this issue peacefully had it been possible to do so, and what President Bush had said at the UN should be taken at face value.
Hutton Report
Asked if there was any indication yet as to when the Hutton Report would be published, the PMOS said no. The timing of the announcement was a matter for Lord Hutton. Asked if any arrangements had been put in place to release the Report to the media under embargo, the PMOS said he believed that such issues relating to the handling of the Report were a matter for Lord Hutton. Questioned about the debate in the Commons following the publication of the Report, the PMOS said he appreciated that the media had many process questions, but we were unable to answer them at this stage. Asked a multitude of other process questions, the PMOS said that these questions would no doubt be answered once we had a publication date. Asked to explain why Downing Street was so in the dark when Government officials had been seconded to the Inquiry team, the PMOS acknowledged that this was the case, but said that it was important to separate respective roles. He apologised for the unhelpful nature of his answers, but he said he hoped that journalists understood the constraints under which he was operating. In answer to further questions, the PMOS said it was important we all recognised the reality of the current situation. He appreciated that we were all waiting for two big events to take place in the days and weeks to come. In the meantime, there was a vacuum. He understood that journalists were under pressure to write stories. That was part of their job. Equally, journalists should recognise that, in his job as PMOS, he was unable to answer some of their questions until the appropriate time.
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