Category: Press Releases

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 1 September 1998.

High profile TV advertising to alert 4.5 million UK small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) to what the introduction of the single currency on 1 January 1999 may mean for them begins today.

Launching the TV advertising phase of the Government’s campaign, Lord Simon, Minister for Trade and Competitiveness in Europe, said:

“On 1 January 1999 the introduction of the single currency – the euro – will change the economic landscape within which UK firms must compete and thrive. For many, the whole way they do business will change.

“Our research shows that too many small and medium sized businesses do not know enough about the euro or, in some cases, have wrongly assumed that because the UK is not joining the single currency on 1 January 1999, it will not affect them.

“It is true that many will not be affected initially, but unless they check they cannot be sure. They will be unable to take an informed decision and could risk losing competitive advantages or miss opportunities to improve their business position.

“All UK businesses, especially small and medium sized firms, must consider whether and how the euro will affect them and what to do to be ready for it.

“The TV advertisements starting today are a vital step in drawing attention to the challenges and the opportunities that lie ahead, underlining the importance of acting NOW to be ready for changes only four months away.

“They will alert them to a mail shot which will be sent to 1.6 million SMEs most likely to be affected by the euro, and show them where to go for the essential information they need to plan ahead.”

Seven television advertisements (three 40 second and two pairs of  20 second at the beginning and end of advertising breaks) will be broadcast nationally during September. These and parallel radio and print ads will draw the attention of SMEs to the mail shot, which will reach businesses in the target group from early September.

The advertisements feature the character of “Martin Skinner”, owner and manager of an SME,  in a range of scenarios reminding staff and business contacts of the starting date of the single currency and ways in which it may affect their business, and alerting business viewers to the mail shot.

The TV campaign was developed by HM Treasury Euro Preparations Unit (EPU), advertising agency TBWA GGT Simons Palmer, with the assistance of the Central Office of Information (COI).

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 30 October 1998.

Significant reforms to strengthen the international financial system were announced today by Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown in the UK’s role as Presidency of the G7 leading industrial nations.

The statement, agreed by all G7 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors, reflects the shared determination of the UK and G7 to modernise the financial system and to put in place new rules and procedures that will promote stability and growth. It affirms that the G7 commit themselves to :

create or sustain conditions for strong, domestic demand-led growth
develop improved procedures for managing crises and preventing them from spreading, including an enhanced IMF financing mechanism supported by private and bilateral finance as appropriate
develop and implement international principles and codes of best practice on: fiscal policy, financial and monetary policy, corporate governance and accounting; and to work to ensure that private sector institutions comply with new standards of disclosure
improve global regulation through co-operation and co-ordination of the activities of key international institutions and national authorities in the management and development of policies to foster stability and reduce systemic risk in the international financial system and better exchanges of information support reforms to improve the effectiveness of the IMF, including transparency and accountability and changes in lending policies and terms of lending.

The agreement follows intensive discussions between G7 countries. As G7 President, Gordon Brown has led this process of negotiation, following agreement at the IMF meetings in Washington earlier this month to develop quickly proposals for reform.

G7 Finance Ministers and Governors will monitor progress and report to Heads of Government before the Cologne Summit on the impact of the measures they have taken today, and their proposals for further action.

Key Points

The agreement reflects the shared determination of the UK and G7 to modernise the financial system and to put in place new rules and procedures that will promote stability and growth. The key points are that the G7 :

agree that the balance of risks in the world economy has shifted from high inflation to concerns about low growth, and commit themselves to create or sustain conditions for strong, domestic demand-led growth;
agree to implement new arrangements for finance to deal with contagion, including an enhanced IMF financing mechanism supported by private sector involvement, and by bilateral finance as appropriate;
commit to develop and implement international principles and codes of best practice on fiscal policy, financial and monetary policy, corporate governance and accounting; and to work to ensure that private sector institutions comply with new standards of disclosure;
agree to encourage all countries to meet these standards, and call on the IMF to monitor and report on countries compliance;
agree to establish a new process for surveillance of supervisory regimes, and to bring together the international institutions and national regulators to cooperate, coordinate, and exchange information;
commit to develop better procedures for crisis management,including more orderly workouts of debt, effective insolvency and debtor-creditor regimes, lending into arrears by the IMF, and innovative financing techniques by the private sector;
commit to a presumption in favour of openness at the IMF and World Bank and to establish a formal mechanism for evaluation of IMF policies and operations;
undertake to do further work on strengthening prudential regulation, maintaining sustainable exchange rate regimes, developing new structures for coordinating official finance, and strengthening the Interim Committee and the Development Committee at the IMF and World Bank.

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 29 October 1998.

Charities will soon be able to get VAT relief for a wider range of welfare services, such as cooking and cleaning, announced Economic Secretary Patricia Hewitt today.

Speaking at the Charities Aid Foundation conference in London, Ms Hewitt said:

“A number of welfare services – including bathing, dressing and feeding – are provided on a not-for-profit basis to the elderly, sick, distressed or disabled people, and are eligible for VAT exemption. A recent VAT Tribunal decision extended the definition of welfare services to include daily living tasks such as cooking, cleaning and laundry.  In the light of this, Customs are reviewing existing policy with a view to extending exemption to these additional services.

“This is a very welcome and sensible step forward, and we will be consulting charities on the exact circumstances in which such services will be exempt.”

Ms Hewitt stressed the importance of the growing partnership between the Government and the voluntary sector:

“The Government values highly the contribution that the voluntary sector makes to society, and the Compact between Government and this sector, due to be launched in November, will further cement the strong relationship we are building.

Turning to the Review of Charities’ Taxation,  Ms Hewitt assured delegates that the Review was making good progress:

“It is important that we give this initiative the time it needs. We received over 3000 responses from our request for ideas for the review, and we have been carefully evaluating them.”

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 29 October 1998.

A three-year action plan to improve Government performance in procuring major construction projects is being developed, Paymaster General Geoffrey Robinson announced today.

Mr Robinson was speaking at the launch of two reports highlighting areas for improvement in the procurement and performance of Government construction contracts. These were prepared by Professor Andrew Graves of the Bath University Agile Construction Initiative for HM Treasury and the Government Construction Client Panel (GCCP).

Mr Robinson said :

“These reports provide the building blocks for a step change in Government performance in dealing with the construction industry.

“The public sector accounts for 40 per cent of construction industry contracts in the UK. As such a significant client, the Government is excellently placed to provide both a lead for other client sectors to improve their performance and the motivation for the industry itself to change. The industry tells us regularly that change will only occur when Government is seen to be improving itself. We are committed to doing exactly that.

“We shall build on the findings of these two valuable reports in five ways, through :

an action plan to implement the Client Improvement Study recommendations within three years developing better performance measurement and benchmarking, taking account of time, cost and quality criteria applied in the pilot study improved training and skill development for project sponsors, building on a successful scheme developed with the Civil Service College and Reading College of Estate Management six further guidance documents on key aspects of client performance, in addition to three already issued working with all Government Departments and the National Audit Office to develop a strategy to deliver and monitor improvements identified in the Client Improvement Study.

“These reports are entirely complementary to the findings and recommendations of Sir John Egan’s Task Force and ensure that improving Government client performance will be implemented within the framework of Sir John’s work.

“Our actions in response to the reports show our commitment to better client performance. As a construction industry client, the Government has the profile, critical mass and size of business to lead change. That is what we are determined to do.”

The first of Professor Graves’ reports, “The Government Client Improvement Study”, compares Government client and supply side performance against UK and, for the first time, international best practice. It provides directions for Government client improvement in four areas : project management; measurement; standardisation; and integration.

The report highlights a number of areas for improvement:

empowerment of the project sponsor role
flexible use of rules and regulations
need for greater integration in the procurement process
early involvement of all parties in the planning and design of projects; and
use wherever possible of standard processes, components and integrated information technology systems.
The action plan set out today will seek to implement the recommendations of the report in all these areas.

The second report, the “Pilot Benchmarking Study”, examines some 60 projects completed in the last five years, with a combined value in excess of £500 million. It shows, for the first time on Government construction projects, that high level data can be used to demonstrate relationships between project characteristics and project success. This will enable Government to identify and focus on factors which will provide the best basis for the successful delivery of construction projects.

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 26 October 1998.

A workshop aimed at making better use of  government assets by developing joint projects between the public and private sector and selling them into a wider market is being opened today in London by Paymaster General Geoffrey Robinson.

The new initiative allows the private sector to use its entrepreneurial skills in developing joint ventures as part of a move to ensure that the public sector is getting full value for  its many and varied assets.

Speaking at the Treasury’s Wider Markets workshop, Geoffrey Robinson said:

“Wider Markets is a marvellous opportunity and a challenge for us all.  This Government believes that both the public and private sectors have key roles to play in delivering public services and encouraging  investment.  We need public private partnerships to get the best out of the assets  – physical and intellectual – that we have.

“This is one – but only one – of the contributions government itself can make to meet the productivity challenge the Chancellor has set us all.

“This initiative is also about changing the culture in Whitehall.  It’s about giving departments incentives to operate efficiently rather than just telling them to do so. It’s about the Treasury giving guidance and support. A partnership in government as well as between government and the private sector.”

Government has many assets which it believes could be used more intensively – not just to physical assets: land, property and equipment, but also to non-physical assets such as software, databases, know-how and other intellectual property.

Wider markets policy allows Departments to retain the receipts from selling services they have developed from using spare capacity.  This can be achieved by developing commercial services based on public assets in partnership with the private sector.

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 22 October 1998.

Attached is an extract from the speech given by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown today to the European Investment Bank Forum.

Just as we are working for stability internationally, so in this uncertain and unstable world where growth forecasts for the world and for national economics are being downgraded by national and international authorities alike, the government is steering a course of stability for Britain.

It because we created a new monetary framework, by making the Bank of England independent, and tackled the inflation problem – that is at the root of the boom bust cycle of the past – that we are better placed to withstand the uncertainties of the global economy.

Inflation has been brought down and is at its target of 2.5 per cent.  And the bank of England has now been able to reduce interest rates while setting policy to meet that target.

And it is because we tackled the fiscal deficit -the 28 billion pounds deficit we inherited – that we are better placed.  In our first year we took the difficult decision to work within the public spending plans we inherited and to tighten fiscal policy – with a reduction in borrowing of 20 billion pounds last year, amounting to 3.5 per cent of GDP from financial year 1996-97 to financial year 1999-2000.

And just as we have consistently taken a prudent and cautious approach to managing the public finances, we will continue to do so.  I will of course be delivering the Pre-Budget report on 3 November, with the half yearly assessment of the economy and the public finances which every chancellor gives.  But I can say – as I said last July – that our plans and projections have been based on cautious assumptions which have been audited by the independent national audit office, including a cautious and realistic assumption about trend growth – one quarter per cent a year lower than the conservative assumption.

It is one of the central features of our new spending regime that we built in margins to cover uncertainties, including the risk of slower growth and its effect on revenues.  And we have laid out, as our new code for fiscal stability requires, clear fiscal rules which we will achieve over the economic cycle and which explicitly allow the automatic stabilisers to operate in periods of more moderate activity.

The Pre-Budget statement I will make to the house of commons in ten days time will show that in an uncertain and unstable global economy we in Britain are steering a stable course for both our national economy and our public finances.  It would not be in the national economic interest for us to be diverted by opportunist calls for emergency cuts in public investment which are not justified on economic grounds.

For it is because of our prudent management of public finances – including last years 20 billion pounds cut in the deficit – that we remain on track to meet our strict fiscal rules over the economic cycle while maintaining our commitment to an additional 40 billion pounds for improvements in health and education.

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 21 October 1998.

New Treasury Taskforce guidelines highlighting staff consultation will lead to greater openness in PFI projects, Paymaster General Geoffrey Robinson announced today.

The procedures outlined today – which have the full support of the CBI and TUC – are designed to encourage transparency and openness during the consultation with staff and other interested parties.  Calling for greater trust and cooperation between Departments, bidders and trade unions, Geoffrey Robinson said:

“The quality of the service which PFI projects deliver depends on the skills and commitment of its staff.   Openness between bidders,  trade unions and staff is an essential part of  any well run procurement process.

“By working closely with staff representatives and acting positively, and by taking on the responsibility for retraining affected staff, the private sector can deliver a good deal for
the public as well as creating valuable alternative employment opportunities. Trade unions know this too. Applied sensibly, these guidelines will ensure that their concerns are listened to.  I want to see trade unions use it in that way.

“I also look to other Departments and public bodies to remove the cloak of secrecy surrounding PFI and allow the free flow of information on PFI projects. Hiding behind the empty phrase “commercial confidentiality” will no longer be the easy option.”

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 1 October 1998.

In Ottawa today Chancellor Gordon Brown unveiled a comprehensive strategy to assist in the poorest and most vulnerable countries’ efforts to reduce poverty.

The international community has made the halving of world poverty levels an overarching objective for the new millennium.  For those countries burdened by debt and the legacy of conflict, we need a comprehensive approach to support them in achieving this goal.  This approach should involve:

• Decisions by Spring 1999 on a framework for helping post conflict countries, which will provide early financial and technical assistance; advance debt relief; and deal with arrears;
• A wide-ranging review of the HIPC Initiative in mid 1999.  Such a review will help to ensure that the HIPC Initiative really does provide a lasting and final exit from the burden of unsustainable debt;
• Ensuring that 22 countries have reached their decision points under HIPC by the end of 1999; and
• Making further progress on an international commitment to ensure that export credits will only support productive expenditure.

The UK is committed to achieving these objectives.  We will press forward with this agenda at the Annual Meetings.  The UK is prepared to support these policies by;

• Contributing to any IDA managed trust fund for post conflict countries;
• Clare Short, Secretary of State for International Development, will announce tomorrow a substantial additional contribution to the HIPC trust fund to help the African Development Bank meet its share of HIPC costs;
• A willingness to contribute to international efforts to fill any financing gaps that remain to secure debt sustainabillity  for HIPCs that require more than 80% relief from the Paris Club;
• A further contribution to funding for technical assistance in debt management, to support faster resolution of debt reconciliation, and support the principle of a stronger debtor voice; and
• A UK commitment to allowing export credits for HIPCs only for productive expenditure.

The Chancellor said:

“The priority now is to deliver the Mauritius Mandate.  It would be a tragedy if the turmoil in emerging markets led the world to lose sight of the plight of some of poorest indebted countries.”

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 24 April 1998.

Tim Wilson, who previously worked for HM Prison Service, has been appointed to succeed Peter Wanless as Head of the Treasury Taskforce Private Finance Policy Team, following the departure of Mr Wanless to the Department for Education and Employment, the Treasury announced today.

Since May 1995, Mr Wilson has been head of the Contracts and Competition Group (CCG) unit within HM Prison Service (England and Wales), responsible for the award of contracts for the private management of prisons. Since then, the CCG has delivered 1,900 PFI prison places at three sites, all of which were brought into use on time or ahead of schedule.

Mr Wilson has spoken about the contractual management of prisons and PFI procurement at a number of conferences in the United States and Canada as well as in England. He is due to speak at a workshop session on the Prison Service’s experience at the first Taskforce Conference (“Better, Faster, Cheaper – Making the PFI Work”) at the Business Design Centre, London on Monday 27 April.

He is also a member of the Evaluation Panel for the Republic of South Africa’s privately funded prison programme which is based on many of the same approaches to the contractual management of prisons and PFI procurement as those followed by the Prison Service.

Mr Wilson is due to take up appointment at the beginning of May. He is 47, and has four children.

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 26 November 1998.

“The Financial Services and Markets Bill will, by creating a single regulator with a single authorisation process, a single compensation scheme, a single ombudsman, and a single appeals tribunal, reduce the amount of regulation whilst at the same time provide for greater accountability, ” Chief Secretary Stephen Byers will say in a speech to City financiers tonight.

Speaking to the Corporation of London Finance Committee Annual Dinner he will stress that the Government is determined to make sure that its plans for reforming the regulatory structure of the financial services industry will be used as an opportunity to reduce the amount of regulation.

He will say:

“Modernisation and reform are the hallmarks of the Government’s new legislative programme set out earlier this week, and our plans to reform the regulation of the financial services industry are a reflection of our modernisation agenda.

Excessive regulation gets in the way of good business and is to no-one’s advantage. I therefore intend that the Bill will provide for the FSA to consult on the costs and benefits arising from regulations that they wish to introduce. In addition, there will be a statutory requirement for regulation to be proportionate.

These measures will ensure that the City can take advantage of the reduction of nine regulators to one by making sure that regulations are only introduced when absolutely necessary.These steps will play an important part in maintaining London’s attractiveness to the world as a place to do business.”