Central Office of Information (Hansard, 8 July 2002)

§ Lord McNally
asked Her Majesty's Government:
What qualities they will be seeking in the next chief executive of the Central Office of Information and what will be the method of appointment.

§ The Minister for the Cabinet Office and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Lord Macdonald of Tradeston)
My Lords, the chief executive will require excellent business and management skills, expert knowledge of the communications sector and credibility across that sector and across government. The competition will be open, supervised by the Civil Service Commissioners and conducted under their rules for the appointment of senior civil servants. Search consultants will help identify suitable candidates for this specialist post.

§ Lord McNally
My Lords, does the Minister recall that when we raised the question of the probity of the relationship between the head of the COI and the Government's communications director in 10 Downing Street, Mr Alastair Campbell, he told the House that that relationship will strengthen the co-ordination and planning of departmental publicity strategies across Whitehall".—[Official Report, 29/5/02; col. 1352.]? 437 That arrangement lasted three weeks after the Minister gave the House that assurance. Will the new head of the COI still have a reporting arrangement with Mr Campbell? In making the appointment, will any attempt be made to take the opinion of the noble Baroness, Lady Prashar, the First Civil Service Commissioner, who has doubted the probity of that relationship, or of Sir Nigel Wicks, who has tried to call Mr Campbell before his committee and had that request refused? When will the Government realise that this hybrid relationship between a political appointee and a neutral Civil Service damages both?

§ Lord Macdonald of Tradeston
My Lords, I emphasise again that the chief executive of the COI is answerable to Ministers at the Cabinet Office. She is not answerable to the Prime Minister's director of communications and strategies. I made that clear last time I spoke on the subject. I think that the noble Lord is referring obliquely to the resignation of Carol Fisher, the chief executive of the Central Office of Information, five months after her contract had expired. She made it clear that she chose not to renew that contract, saying: Alastair Campbell and I have enjoyed a good working relationship based on mutual respect. He has only ever been completely helpful to me".

§ Lord Corbett of Castle Vale
My Lords, can my noble friend assure your Lordships' House that the Central Office of Information, or any other government agency, will not in any way facilitate the showing of the anti-euro cinema advertisement with the ludicrous Rik Mayall impersonating Adolf Hitler, who did such great damage to our continent?

§ Lord Macdonald of Tradeston
My Lords, the example referred to emphasises the need for the strict conventions of propriety, which are always observed by the COI, based on objectivity and explanatory tone. My noble friend can be assured that the COI would not be involved in any such advertising.

§ Baroness Blatch
My Lords, given the Civil Service status of Mr Alastair Campbell and whether he has a role in marketing strategy across Whitehall, and the status of his colleague Mr Charles Powell, does the Minister agree that they should both be accountable to parliamentary committees—

Noble Lords
Jonathan Powell.

§ Baroness Blatch
My Lords, I apologise to Mr Powell's brother, who may be sitting in the House.
Does the Minister agree that both those gentlemen should be accountable through parliamentary committees, particularly the Committee on Standards in Public Life?

§ Lord Macdonald of Tradeston
My Lords, I refer the noble Baroness to the Companion, because her question is very wide of the one that I am answering.

§ Lord Lipsey
My Lords, does my noble friend share my growing suspicion that the current "Get Campbell" campaign owes a great deal to the fact that he is damned good at his job?

§ Lord Macdonald of Tradeston
My Lords, Mr Campbell's job in this case is simply to take advice when it is offered by the chief executive of the Central Office of Information. His interest is in co-ordination across government departments, but only for substance and synergy and for best practice to try to get better overall value for money for the taxpayer.

§ Baroness Gardner of Parkes
My Lords, what does the noble Lord mean by saying that questions are wide of the mark? Surely we believe that standards in public life have to go through everything. This House has taken a firm line on that and adopted it as definite policy.

§ Lord Macdonald of Tradeston
My Lords, I was answering a question on the qualities that we shall seek in the next chief executive of the Central Office of Information. The question asked by the noble Baroness, Lady Blatch, was wide of that issue.

§ Lord McNally
My Lords, less than three weeks before the resignation of the COI director, the Minister had called in aid in an Answer to this House her relationship with Mr Alastair Campbell. It is quite proper for the rest of the House to inquire about Mr Alastair Campbell's relationship with the next head of the COI. As for the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Lipsey, does the Minister agree that it is not Mr Campbell's ability or otherwise that is in question, but whether his relationship with career civil servants is bringing into doubt the impartiality and neutrality of our Civil Service, which has been its greatest strength for 130 years?

§ Lord Macdonald of Tradeston
My Lords, that gives me an opportunity to repeat yet again the answer that I thought I had given clearly and emphatically to the noble Lord. Carol Fisher is not answerable to Alastair Campbell. She is answerable to the Ministers at the Cabinet Office.