§ 5. Mr. Norman Baker (Lewes)If she will make a statement on her role in co-ordinating news releases from different Departments. [106587]
§ The Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office (Mr. Graham Stringer)My right hon. Friend the Minister for the Cabinet Office has no role in co-ordinating news releases from other Departments.
§ Mr. BakerThat is interesting. Is the Minister aware that last year the Government issued 13,500 press 1031 releases—one every nine minutes? What was the cost to the public purse? Have there been any objections to the practice in the Civil Service? Does that explain why 16 out of 17 heads of information in the Civil Service have been replaced since the Government came to power? Perhaps the Government prefer heads of disinformation.
§ Mr. StringerIs the hon. Gentleman saying that Liberal policy is that we should not tell the people of this country what the Government are doing? That is how it sounded. As for changing heads of the information service, if the hon. Gentleman looks back to the period between 1979 and 1981 he will learn that 13 departmental heads of information changed over that time. It is not unusual for heads of information to change when Ministers change.
§ Mr. Peter L. Pike (Burnley)Will my hon. Friend confirm that, while the Cabinet Office has no role in co-ordinating the publication of news releases, the present Government have had more good news to release in two and a half years than the last Government had in 18?
§ Mr. StringerMy hon. Friend makes an extremely good point. The basic policy of both Opposition parties is not to want the Government to spend money on informing people of rights that they—the Conservative party and the Liberal party—have opposed on the Floor of the House.
§ Mr. Michael Fabricant (Lichfield)Does the Minister agree that civil servants should remain neutral and should not be politicised? If so, how does he reconcile that position with the recent statement by the head of attack at Millbank, the headquarters of the Labour party, to the effect that it has regular contacts with No. 10's press office?
§ Mr. StringerIt is clearly the Government's policy that the civil service will retain, and does retain, its impartiality and integrity. The existence of special advisers whose responsibility it is to explain Government policy in a political context helps to retain the impartiality of the civil service.