The main points so far from Prime Minister Gordon Brown's appearance before the senior MPs on the Commons liaison committee:
The main points so far from Prime Minister Gordon Brown's appearance before the senior MPs on the Commons liaison committee:
The two and a half hour session began at 9am with questions about public services, and whether Tony Blair's reforms would continue.
The two and a half hour session began at 9am with questions about public services, and whether Tony Blair's reforms would continue.
Mr Brown said reform of the public sector would intensify in future and would be "wider and deeper" than in recent years.
Mr Brown said reform of the public sector would intensify in future and would be "wider and deeper" than in recent years.
He said services would be more tailored to meet the personal needs of individual citizens in areas such as social care, health and education.
He said services would be more tailored to meet the personal needs of individual citizens in areas such as social care, health and education.
He said there would be more one-to-one relationships between people and those who can help them such as teachers, nurses and advisors on welfare. He said there would be growing role for the voluntary sector.
He said there would be more one-to-one relationships between people and those who can help them such as teachers, nurses and advisors on welfare. He said there would be a growing role for the voluntary sector.
He said the role of the private sector was expanding, and would continue to expand, in areas such as health. Independent treatment centres will have diagnosed a million people by April of next year, Mr Brown added.
He said the role of the private sector was expanding, and would continue to expand, in areas such as health. Independent treatment centres will have diagnosed a million people by April of next year, Mr Brown added.
A forum had been set up to encourage more private operators to come into the health sector, he said, while a review had begun of the overall role of the private sector in the National Health Service, which was valued at £22bn.
Value-for-money would be the main test for independent healthcare providers at a local level as the capacity in the NHS was built up, he said.
Most Whitehall departments were being asked to make efficiency savings of 3%, a "big target" for them, the prime minister added. But he said there was never any complacency about the need to cut budgets while ensuring that services were improved.
Asked about changing technology, Mr Brown said Britain, along with other countries, was realising that "so much more" had yet to be done to improve the use of information technology in public services.
Conservative MP Edward Leigh asked Mr Brown about "systemic failures" in the HM Revenue and Customs and whether the inquiry into the loss of CDs holding child-benefit data would be a good opportunity to review the workings of the department.
The prime minister said it was important to recognise the difference between a single case of "rules not being followed" and whether the department was running more or less effectively since being created in place of the former Inland Revenue and HM Customs and Excise offices.
"Nobody has lost any money" as yet following the loss of those discs, containing personal details - including bank account information - on some 25 million people, Mr Brown added.
More children have been receiving an education in poorer areas under the government-backed academies and trusts, Mr Brown said.
