Briefing from the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman on: Call-Centres, John Scarlett, Iraq and Cricket/Zimbabwe.
Call-Centres
The Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman (PMOS) advised journalists that Patricia Hewitt was making a speech on call-centres today. She would take the opportunity to outline the findings of a report on the industry and say that the UK’s call-centre industry was in shape and would grow by 200,000 jobs over the next three years. She would also accept that there were areas which could be improved, such as skills, quality of customer service and perception of the industry.
John Scarlett
The PMOS informed journalists that the Foreign Secretary was confirming today the appointment of John Scarlett as the next Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS). The appointment had been made by the Foreign Secretary on the basis of a recommendation from a selection panel, following Civil Service Commission practice. The panel was chaired by the Security Intelligence Co-ordinator, Sir David Omand. Jack Straw said, "John Scarlett has the operational background, personal qualities and wide experience to be a worthy successor to Richard Dearlove".
Asked for a reaction to concerns that Mr Scarlett was ‘too close to Downing Street’ inasmuch as he would be too willing to do No 10’s bidding, the PMOS said that the appointment had been made using the usual procedures. It had been based entirely on merit on the recommendation of a panel chaired by Sir David Omand. The procedure used in this instance was the same as the one which had been followed for the appointment of Eliza Manningham-Buller, Director General of MI5, and David Pepper, Director of GCHQ. It was also the same process used for the appointment of Permanent Secretaries. Put to him that it was usual procedure for the serving deputy to be appointed Chief, the PMOS said that it was not for him to comment on such matters. He repeated that the appointment had been based entirely on merit on the recommendation of a panel chaired by Sir David Omand. Put to him again that it was usual procedure for the deputy to the Chief of the SIS to take over when the Chief retired, the PMOS said that the usual procedure was to follow Civil Service Commission practice and make an appointment based on a recommendation from a selection panel. The same process had been used to appoint Eliza Manningham-Buller and David Pepper.
In answer to further questions, the PMOS said that it was normal procedure for the Foreign Secretary to make the appointment under Section 2(1) of the Intelligence Services Act 1994 on the basis of recommendations from a selection panel following Civil Service Commission practice. In this case, the panel had been chaired by Sir David Omand. Under this procedure, the Prime Minister was consulted at the end of the process. Asked if previous SIS Chiefs had been appointed under this process, the PMOS said that it was up the SIS to brief on previous appointments. He underlined that the process which had been used to appoint Mr Scarlett was the same as that used for all Permanent Secretary-level appointments. Asked for how long this process had been in use, the PMOS referred journalists to the Cabinet Office for further detail. Asked if people had been asked to apply for the job or if it had been advertised, the PMOS said that he had no intention of getting drawn into a detailed discussion of the process. Asked if there had been any other candidates for the job, apart from John Scarlett, the PMOS repeated that the appointment had been made on the recommendation of the selection panel. Asked who else had sat on the panel, apart from Sir David Omand, the PMOS said that it wasn’t our policy to provide details of Civil Service Commission practice.
Iraq
Asked if additional British troops were heading for Iraq, the PMOS said that the position had not changed since he was asked this question at yesterday afternoon’s briefing. The situation was kept under constant review. This was being conducted in a measured way, as you would expect. It would therefore take a bit more time to complete the process. No decision had been taken at this stage. We would let people know the outcome of the discussions when it was appropriate to do so. Asked if the UK had received a request for more troops, the PMOS said that as we had stated from the outset, we were in discussion with our Coalition allies about this matter. However, he had no intention of giving a running commentary on the process.
Asked if the UK would apologise if the allegations of mistreatment by British troops were found to be true, the PMOS said he did not think it would be helpful to engage in a hypothetical discussion while the investigations were still ongoing.
Cricket/Zimbabwe
Asked about the Foreign Secretary’s meeting this afternoon with the ECB regarding the forthcoming cricket tour to Zimbabwe, the PMOS said that our position on this issue had not changed. We sympathised with the ECB over the position in which they found themselves. However, they were very well aware of our view. That said, as the Prime Minister had told the Commons yesterday, we could not order individuals not to travel.
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