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Sir Gus ODonnell KCBCabinet Secretary
Cabinet Office
70 Whitehall
London
SW1A 2AS
08 April 2011
Dear Sir Gus
I am writing to you to ask you to investigate the event held at
Frimley Park Hospital onWednesday 6 April 2011, at which the Prime
Minister, the Deputy Prime Minster and the
Health Secretary spoke, and the associated Government document
published on the same day,
Working together for a stronger NHS.
The Prime Minister was leading what was described as a future
forum to listen and
engage with the public over the Governments NHS reorganisation
plans and legislation. It
was reported that the main purpose of the Ministers visit was to
reassure the public over
widely-held fears that their plans will harm the NHS and to
respond to widespread criticism
of the Governments handling of the reorganisation. The event
gained a great deal of news
coverage across the country.
The NHS is highly and politically sensitive. It is therefore
undeniably relevant to local
elections being held in England, especially as the Health and
Social Care Bill contains a
number of far-reaching provisions that would change the role and
responsibilities of local
authorities.
This event staged at Frimley Park Hospital raises serious
questions about a breach of Cabinet
Office guidance on the use of Government resources and property
during a pre-election
period.
In particular, paragraph 12 of the Cabinet Office guidance
states: In the pre-election periods,particular care should be taken
in respect of proposed visits to areas holding elections...
Official support must not be given to visits and events with a
party political or campaigning
purpose.
Department of Health guidance to Strategic Health Authorities
and NHS Foundation Trusts is
also relevant and clear: Special care should be taken in
relation to proposed visits if in
doubt it is best to avoid having councillors or other
politicians undertake visits to NHS sites
during this period, unless the visit is clearly for government
purposes rather than party
political ones.
I am therefore writing to ask you to investigate and confirm:
whether or not any CabinetOffice rules or official guidance have
been broken in the planning and staging of the event on
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6 April, including what formal advice was sought by and provided
to those responsible for
the event. In doing so, I would also ask you to consider the
disgraceful way that nurses in
uniform and other NHS staff were used as stage dressing for the
Prime Minister, Deputy
Prime Minister and Health Secretary to speak.
In addition to your inquiries into the Frimley Park Hospital
event, I am also writing to askyou to investigate whether or not
the Civil Service Code has been breached by the
Government document Working together for a stronger NHS, which
was published
alongside the event.
In particular, paragraph 8 of the Civil Service Code states: You
must set out the facts and
relevant issues truthfully and paragraph 9 asserts: You must not
deceive or knowingly
mislead Ministers, Parliament or others.
This document contains a number of highly questionable passages,
but I would draw your
attention to two in particular.
First, on page 9, the apparent factual assertion that For years
doctors and nurses have been
burdened by bureaucracy and crushed under the weight of top-down
targets. This has been
bad for morale and terrible for patient care. This is clearly
and completely inconsistent with
recent established facts such as waiting times being the lowest
since records began and
patient satisfaction at the highest ever levels. As you make
your inquiries, I would be grateful
if you could establish and confirm the official facts on which
these Government assertions
have been made.
Second, on page 1, the opening passage which asserts: We love
the NHS because its there
when the people we love fall ill. Because its there all the
time. Because whoever you are,
wherever youre from, however much money youve got in the bank,
theres somewhere you
can go to get looked after. And because that says amazing things
about our country. Thats
why we love our NHS. In making your inquiries into the document,
I would be grateful if
you could establish and confirm who the we is supposed to be in
this official Government
publication.
I would ask you to consider the synthetic sentimentalism which
fall short of the standards that
official Government publications should meet.
I look forward to your response on all these points.
Yours sincerely
John Healey MP
Shadow Health Secretary
