Reforms announced after Iraq war intelligence faults

New safeguards to prevent a repeat of the intelligence failings in the run-up to the war on Iraq were announced today by the Foreign Secretary Jack Straw.

New safeguards to prevent a repeat of the intelligence failings in the run-up to the war on Iraq were announced today by the Foreign Secretary Jack Straw.

The changes will tighten up the procedures under which the Government deals with secret intelligence, following the criticism in last year's Butler Report of Tony Blair's informal style of "government by sofa".

Mr Straw announced the reforms in a written statement to the House of Commons, setting out progress in implementing the recommendations of the report, which raised serious concerns about the quality of analysis of secret information.

The Secret Intelligence Service - MI6 - has developed new procedures, backed by extra funding, to improve the evaluation and monitor the quality of intelligence reports, said Mr Straw.

The processes of the Joint Intelligence Committee, which advises Government on intelligence findings and produced the controversial dossier on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, have been "reviewed and tightened up".

The 28-strong Cabinet Office Assessments Staff, responsible for analysing the work of intelligence services for ministers, is to be increased by one-third, in order to subject reports to more rigorous checking and to allow the production of regular warning papers on significant forthcoming threats.

And ministers will be issued with a new confidential guidebook on how to assess secret information - including cautions on the limitations of intelligence material.

The Butler report, published last July, was highly critical of the performance of the intelligence agencies, describing much of their reporting in the run-up to the war as "open to doubt" and "seriously flawed".

Since the conflict, MI6 has withdrawn reports from three of its main sources on Iraq - including the source which claimed Iraq could deploy weapons of mass destruction within 45 minutes - as they are now considered unreliable.

The report also criticised the Government's notorious dossier on Iraq weapons for failing to make clear the limitations and weaknesses of the underlying intelligence.

And it raised concerns over the "informality" of decision-making in Number 10, with too many decisions taken in unminuted discussions within Mr Blair's inner circle, and too many oral presentations to Cabinet, which prevented ministers from having advance notice of subjects to be addressed.

Mr Blair accepted the recommendations of the Butler Report in full last July, and Mr Straw announced in November that the security and intelligence co-ordinator Sir David Omand would lead work on their implementation.

Today's statement sets out the results of Sir David's work.

Among the changes are new standardised terminology to ensure that the way sources are described are consistent across the intelligence community.

A new post of Professional Head of Intelligence Analysis is to be created to provide advice on analytical capacity and methodology across the security, defence and foreign affairs fields, as well as the recruitment and training of expert analysts.

Mr Straw said: "Lord Butler's report has contributed greatly to the process under way to fit the UK's intelligence community for the future.

"The Government recognised the need to move substantially to implement its conclusions and has done so."

A Downing Street spokesman said: "The Government accepted all the recommendations of Lord Butler. Jack Straw indicated in November that he would ask Sir David Omand to look at taking forward the recommendations and that is happening today."

The Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman Sir Menzies Campbell said: "Accepting Lord Butler's recommendations is one thing, but implementing them fully is another.

"Because of the restraints in the disclosure of intelligence, Parliament and the public have to rely on the competence of the people involved and the integrity of the system. These reforms will only be of any value if they enhance both of these."Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman Sir Menzies Campbell said: "Accepting Lord Butler's recommendations is one thing, but implementing them fully is another.

"Because of the restraints in the disclosure of intelligence, Parliament and the public have to rely on the competence of the people involved and the integrity of the system. These reforms will only be of any value if they enhance both of these."