Government Communications (Hansard, 31 March 2004)

§ Lord Bassam of Brighton
My Lords, following an open competition, Howell James has been appointed to the post of Permanent Secretary, Government Communications. He will report through the Cabinet Secretary to the Minister for the Cabinet Office and the Prime Minister. He will be located in the Cabinet Office.

§ Lord McNally
My Lords, does the Minister recall that the Phillis committee, which set up this new arrangement in Whitehall, set out its objective as being to address the breakdown in the level of public trust in, and credibility of, government communications? It saw, as part of the answer, the restoration of the tradition of Civil Service impartiality as a key bulwark on which to build trust. Is he aware that the three men given major appointments under the new regime—the political appointment of Mr David Hill; the Permanent Secretary, Government Communications, Howell James; and the No. 10 spokesman, Tom Kelly—were all members of the Phillis committee, which gives it a good record in terms of job creation? Does he really think that this new structure, which now puts three spin doctors where one spin doctor operated before, addresses the central point of Phillis: that we have to restore the tradition of Civil Service impartiality to government communications, which was destroyed under Alastair Campbell.

§ Lord Bassam of Brighton
My Lords, I thought at first that the noble Lord approved of the findings of the Phillis committee. It is my view, and I thought that the noble Lord shared it, that the Phillis committee neatly defined the way in which responsibilities should be separated out, so that a Permanent Secretary for government communications has a different job from that of the director of communications who advises the Prime Minister or the Prime Minister's official spokesperson. On the basis of that appointments experience and background, we have every confidence in the ability of the new Permanent Secretary to deliver high quality communications to high professional standards across the government information service.