§ Mr. Peter BottomleyTo ask the Prime Minister what was the basis for the statement made on his behalf by his Chief Press Officer concerning ministerial responses to invitations to appear on "Newsnight". [51814]
§ The Prime MinisterThe Government seek to field Ministers for interviews as requested by the broadcast media, and my Chief Press Secretary has a role in the co-ordination of this activity. Given the growth in outlets, and the number of bids received, judgments inevitably have to be applied about which interviews Ministers agree to. Ministers regularly appear on Newsnight and many other BBC programmes.
454Wand as part of the follow up work on school exclusion and truancy is looking at the overlap between the number of plans affecting young children; joint audit and inspection of different services bearing on the same client; and the need for better information sharing between professionals.
The Unit is also involved in drawing up key indicators of social exclusion and is pursuing this in parallel with the Department of Social Security's consultation on the success measures proposed in the Green Paper on Welfare Reform. A decision on the second phase work of the Unit will be announced in due course.
§ Mr. McNamaraTo ask the Prime Minister if he will list the members of the Social Exclusion Unit, indicating the special responsibilities and experience of each member. [51310]
§ The Prime Minister[holding answer 20 July 1998]: The table shows the members of the Social Exclusion Unit at senior executive level and above. The unit works in teams on its projects, details of which were set out in my answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Putney (Mr. Colman) on 8 December 1997, Official Report, columns 408–10. Its next set of priorities will be announced shortly.