Tony Blair has promised to implement a review of the Government Information and Communications Service (GICS), which says: "Effective communications strategies should take an integrated approach from speeches through advertising and public relations, so that they make a strategic contribution to the policy aims of each government department."
The review group, headed by the Guardian Media Group chief executive, Bob Phillis, proposed that co-ordination of campaigns, including work by COI Communications, come under a new Permanent Secretary, appointed at the Cabinet Office. The proposal aims to end the "culture of spin".
But the Tories said the plans could further politicise ad campaigns.
A spokesman said: "Linking ads with political speeches makes a nonsense of the Government's claims. It will put civil servants under pressure to promote the Labour Party rather than government services."
Ministers countered that heading the new structure with a top civil servant would further safeguard against politicisation.
The Tories also accused the Department of Work and Pensions of "blatant lies" in its £10.7 million campaign through Delaney Lund Knox Warren & Partners to promote the new Pension Credit scheme. David Willetts, the Tory spokesman on pensions, claimed it was "simply untrue" to say every pensioner would get an income of £102.10 a week. The Government rejected the criticism.
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