{"id":15426,"date":"2018-06-21T16:13:57","date_gmt":"2018-06-21T15:13:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=15426"},"modified":"2020-11-12T12:58:41","modified_gmt":"2020-11-12T12:58:41","slug":"capita-mod-firefighters-contract-urgent-question","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=15426","title":{"rendered":"‘Staggering’ complacency"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The government today (June 21) refused to explain why it handed outsourcing firm Capita a contract to run Ministry of Defence (MoD) fire and rescue services despite the company being rated 10 out 10 in a financial risk assessment.<\/p>\n

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Labour MP for Leeds North East Fabian Hamilton put forward an urgent question today<\/a> (June 21) in\u00c2\u00a0House of Commons asking why Capita \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the troubled firm which issued a profit warning as recently as January and was forced to borrow over \u00c2\u0141700 million after racking up losses of \u00c2\u0141513 million last year \u00c2\u00a0\u00e2\u20ac\u201c was chosen to take on the 12-year \u00c2\u0141500m contract.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It was revealed yesterday (June 20) that the independent financial consultancy Company Watch had given Capita \u00e2\u20ac\u212210 out 10<\/a>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 — the highest level of financial risk in an assessment for the government two weeks before the MoD confirmed the contract on Tuesday (June 19). As part of the same assessment, Capita was given a 3 out of 100 \u00e2\u20ac\u0098health score\u00e2\u20ac\u2122. A score of 25 or less is deemed to be in a red \u00e2\u20ac\u0098warning area\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 of heightened vulnerability.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Responding to the urgent question, Tory MP and defence minister Tobias Ellwood highlighted that awarding the contract to Capita would improve safety and training \u00e2\u20ac\u201c though he couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t explain exactly how \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and he also highlighted that the outsourcing firm provided best value for money.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Track record<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

But Hamilton pointed out Capita\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s poor track record running MoD contracts. The firm was stripped of its contract for running the military estate late last year only four years into a 10-year contract after a highly critical National Audit Office (NAO) report.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Capita also came under fire for bungling an MoD army recruitment contract \u00e2\u20ac\u201c IT glitches and application delays caused thousands of would-be soldiers to drop out of the application process altogether at a time when the army is facing shortages of new recruits.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And contrary to the government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s claim that Capita delivers value for money, the company repeatedly missed savings targets on the recruitment contract \u00e2\u20ac\u201c it delivered only \u00c2\u01412.37m in savings in six years, well below government estimates of \u00c2\u0141104.3m.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Hamilton slammed the government for continuing to award contracts to a company with such a chequered past \u00e2\u20ac\u201c especially in light of outsourcing firm Carillion\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s collapse earlier this year which threw the public services it ran into chaos.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIs it not time to accept that this government’s ideologically driven approach to outsourcing public services at any cost has simply failed?\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Hamilton said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The defence minister was grilled by MPs, who demanded to know why MoD fire services were being privatised in the first place, especially considering, for example, that even the US Department of Defence doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t privatise its own military fire services.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Workforce concerns<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThey say that insanity is doing the same thing multiple times over and expecting different results,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 noted Labour MP Paul Sweeny, while Labour MP David Drew asked for assurances over shift patterns for the current workforce, who are employed in both civilian and military roles and are responsible for ensuring the safety of military bases both in the UK and abroad. The workers also have to protect military equipment in war zones.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Hamilton, too, highlighted the concerns of the MoD fire services workforce affected by the contract decision, numbering about 2,000 people, many of whom Unite represents.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bA number of defence fire workers will be very worried indeed about this news,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe significance of the workforce, and the role they play in protecting MoD staff, their families and infrastructure cannot be overstated, both overseas and at home.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite has highlighted that attempts to privatise MoD firefighters have been on-going for nearly a decade, which shows just how complex the process of outsourcing their services will be.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite national officer Jim Kennedy slammed the MoD\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s decision to award the contract to Capita.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe complacency displayed by government ministers is simply staggering,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThere needs to be an investigation into how Capita can be awarded such a sensitive and important contract despite being graded the highest financial risk possible in the government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s own assessment.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe award of this contact risks our defence and points to a government that is willing carry on with the outsourcing racket at all costs,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Kennedy added. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bMinisters need to learn the lessons of the Carillion collapse and call time on the outsourcing gravy train that puts our public services at risk.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The government today (June 21) refused to explain why it handed outsourcing firm Capita a contract to run Ministry of Defence (MoD) fire and rescue services despite the company being rated 10 out 10 in a financial risk assessment.   Labour MP for Leeds North East Fabian Hamilton put forward an urgent question today (June […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4292,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[562,144,647],"wps_subtitle":"MPs slam government for awarding Capita MoD firefighters contract","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15426"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15426"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15426\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26117,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15426\/revisions\/26117"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}