Speeches by Jones.

“I would say that any Opposition party has limited resources. When you are fighting a very significant set of elections, a lot of your resources tend to go into campaigning, so it is hard for Opposition parties of any colour to do the type of work that you can then do in government, when you have the resources of the ci…”

“As I say, we can all give ourselves hundreds of KPIs. We have to focus on what is important to the public and make sure that we are delivering against that.”

“Yes. I disagree wholeheartedly.”

“It is an expectation of everybody in the building. Do I go around every day with a clipboard and ask, “Who have you spoken to last night?” No. I would not get anything else done in the job. The Prime Minister’s wishes are made clear. If anyone decides to go against that, there will have to be consequences for it. In re…”

“I cannot take responsibility for everyone across the whole of Government, so, no, I do not. We have to respect the autonomy of Departments. There is a co-ordinating role that we can enhance in the centre, where we do not do that currently. That is not about centralisation or taking budgets or power away from Department…”

“It is not just me. We have Tim Allan, who is the executive director of communications in No. 10. We have David Dinsmore, who is the new Permanent Secretary for the Government Communication Service, who is housed within the Cabinet Office. One change that the Government have made and that has worked really well, which w…”

“I have oversight of it as Chief Secretary in No. 10. There is a shared diagnosis, both with special advisers and with civil servants responsible for communications reform, that the system has become addicted to announcements. Just because we have a grid, it does not mean that we need to announce something else on a Tue…”

“Coming in in September, if it was as easy as me just deciding what would happen and the whole thing happening, that would have been great, but there is a lot to do. I have had to prioritise my time and be clear about what I am going to do. It is a team sport, and it is about bringing colleagues with you, within Departm…”

“No, and it needs to change. That is not a criticism of civil servants. It is a criticism of past decisions about how the centre operates. At Cabinet this morning, I presented the changes that the Prime Minister and I have been implementing in the centre of Government, as a reflection of our work over the last couple of…”

“We were elected on that mandate as the Labour party. The Prime Minister has been very clear that those are his priorities. We know, through testing and insight work, and focus groups and feedback with people across the country, that those are the headline issues. Irrespective of your voting intention or demographic, th…”

“People want to feel better off at the end of this Parliament than at the start of it. They want to know that their public services, and particularly the national health service, are fit for the future and there when they need them. They want to feel pride in our country, whether that is in relation to communities or th…”

“Yes, but you also want to do that in the right way. The centre is quite small compared to all the other Departments, with all the experts that they have within their teams. As I say, the measurement of success for me is that we are adding value to enable and speed up delivery of the public’s priorities, and to be able …”

“Yes.”

“Yes.”

“The chief of staff is the head of the units that do political work, including the political director and the communications functions. As I say, I tend to work with not just the chief of staff but the deputy chiefs of staff as well, where we have broadly separated out political and communications strategy, policy and d…”

“Just to break that down a little, the Cabinet Office has always served the Prime Minister and the Cabinet. That still happens. What we do not do is duplicate the work of Departments. We are there in the centre to support Departments with their delivery, so we do not try to deliver instead of them. We are there to add v…”

“They are two separate jobs. Over the summer recess, the Prime Minister decided to create a ministerial role within No. 10. No. 10 is not a Department. It is, in fact, a business unit of the Cabinet Office but, as the Committee will know, it functions as its own business unit. He wanted additional ministerial capacity t…”

“First, it is great to be with you. It is the first time since I was appointed in September.”

“Thank you so much.”

“Since I last addressed the House, the Prime Minister announced the new Office for the Impact Economy, based in the Cabinet Office. From building affordable homes to giving children up and down the country the best start in life, social enterprises and community foundations are fundamental to delivering the change that …”