And openness means admitting you don't know. It is not a culture commonly associated with Britain's civil service. For at the end of the day there is only one question worth asking. This, remember is a Labour government reporting on events under a Conservative administration. Inevitably then, there was the claim that much had already been put right.
Food policy is now in safe hands is clearly the government's intended message.
So much so, Mr Brown revealed there are to be no immediate changes to food safety measures. But critics of food policy remain fearful that the lessons of BSE will fall on deaf ears, particularly in the meat industry where the Inquiry found regulations were constantly breached. Some think not. Lord Phillips says Whitehall must learn to handle scientists better and improve the way advisory committees are selected and used and their advice reviewed. And that they must be ready to listen to those outside the system, rather than ridicule them.