Briefing from the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman on: Tuition Fees and Whistle-Blowing.
Tuition Fees
Asked if the Prime Minister and the Chancellor had discussed the issue of tuition fees within the last forty-eight hours given the Chancellor’s words on the matter today, the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman (PMOS) said that the Prime Minister and the Chancellor were in constant contact, as you would expect. As we had made clear from the outset, the Chancellor had been heavily involved in the policy detail for some considerable time. He had participated in intensive discussions about the issue, for example in the run up to the publication of the Higher Education Bill last week, because, self evidently, there were a lot of financial issues contained within it. The Chancellor had said on many occasions that he fully supported the policy. We had said last week that Cabinet Ministers would go out and make the case to their parliamentary colleagues in advance of the Second Reading. Clearly that was already happening. Asked if the Prime Minister welcomed the Chancellor’s active involvement, the PMOS said that the Cabinet was united around the policy so it should come as no surprise. Asked if the Chancellor had been actively involved in actually drawing up the policy, the PMOS said yes. Asked if that meant he had ‘ownership’ of it, the PMOS said that since there were various financial elements to the Bill, such as the issue of grants and support for poorer students, the Chancellor’s involvement wasn’t too surprising. It would be impossible to produce legislation like this without Treasury involvement. Asked if the issue of foxhunting was figuring in Ministers’ conversations with Backbenchers, the PMOS said that as he understood it, discussions with Backbenchers were about the Higher Education Bill and the detail within it.
Whistle-Blowing
Asked to outline ‘in general terms’ the Government’s attitude to whistleblowers who highlighted poor performance or wrongdoing among public sector bodies, the PMOS said that if he was being asked the question because of the Speaker’s comments today, he did not think it would be helpful to respond, in general terms or otherwise, because it was difficult to disaggregate the general from the specific.
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