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To:
Georgef”
Kennett[,,
4 Wed 04/02/2015 9:29:
Subject: RE: Sparrow update
Dear all
A brief update on Sparrow:
- the select committee meeting took place yesterday. It was an incredibly tough couple of hours for Paula
and Angela. The MPs were well briefed and in aggressive mood (as we expected). Paula and Angela did
a brilliant job in very difficult circumstances
- there has been no media coverage at all so far. We do expect the BBC to return to the issue next week
and will be engaging robustly with them.
- a number of actions came out of the session which the team are picking up. We need to move quickly to
correct some glaring inaccuracies and misinformation, and will do so.
- there will be an Executive update tomorrow as you aware
I hope this is helpful: please do let me know if I can help with any queries.
Best wishes,
Mark
Mark Davies I Communications and Corporate Affairs Director
_Ast Floor, Banner Wing, 148 Old Street, London, EC1V 9HQ
GRO ? Postling™ GRO H
----Original Message-----
From: Mark R Davies
Sent: 30 January 2015 08:40
To: Paula Vennells; Martin George; Neil Hayward; Nicholas Kennett; Kevin Gilliland; Alisdair Cameron:
Gavin Lambert; Alwen Lyons; Chris Aujard; Jane MacLeod; Lesley J Sewell; Peter Markey; David Rya'
Cc: Belinda Crowe; Jane Hill
Subject: Sparrow update
All
I wanted to give you an update on Sparrow.
As you know the BIS select committee takes place on Tuesday starting at 0930.
The first hour will be evidence from the CWU (Andy Furey), JFSA (Alan Bates) and NFSP (George
Thomson).
That will be followed by an hour with Paula, Angela and Second Sight.
We are working today on finalising briefing and key lines (hence my absence from SLT, for which I am
really sorry). We are also submitting our evidence to the committee.
We held a mock session yesterday with a team from Brunswick including ex-senior journalists and
political advisers. This was hugely helpful in assessing strengths and weaknesses in our briefing so far.
We are preparing for potential media interest by making contact with senior editors on key programmes
and will engage vigorously should we need to do so, in line with our strategy of containing coverage as
much as possible.
In other developments:
- Al is meeting Second Sight on Monday to discuss our finance systems
- the minister has now replied to JFSA in (we understand) strong and helpful terms
- Paula and I updated the Board on Wednesday
- we are preparing a submission as requested by the Criminal Cases Review Commission
I hope this is helpful. Happy of course to answer any queries.
Mark
Mark Davies
Communications and Corporate Affairs Director
Mobile:
Sent from my iPhone
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