6 February 2013
Britain's justice ministry
slammed for 'shambolic' commissioning
British government plans to contract out billions
of pounds worth of public services to private companies have been called into
question in a parliamentary committee report published on Wednesday.
The Ministry of Justice plans, which have been
criticised by the opposition Labour party, include allowing firms to run
criminal probation services, and are part of a wider drive across government to
cut spending by outsourcing.
The chair of the justice select committee said that
the MOJ's handling of a 90 million-pound ($141 million) contract to run court
translation services was "shambolic" after translators failed to turn
up at court and others mistranslated hearings to defendants.
The report also said that weaknesses in the MOJ's
due diligence and risk mitigation procedures were a "cause for
concern" ahead of its ambitious plans to contract out more public
services, and repeated a call made in a previous report for an independent
review into the department's ability to commission services.
It added that the MOJ did not have a sufficient
understanding of the complexities of the work it was contracting out when it
started the procurement process.
The committee said that services firm Capita, which
inherited a five-year translation services contract when it bought Applied
Language Solutions for 7.5 million pounds in late 2011, had improved the
service markedly but it had taken a long time, even with Capita's
"considerable" resources. The service is also still largely boycotted
by qualified interpreters who previously worked in the public sector.
Capita acknowledged there had been issues regarding
the delivery of the contract but said it had invested in improving its
performance.
"Processes have been put in place to get the
service running efficiently and effectively which means that the vast majority
of booking requests are fulfilled and the volume of complaints has
fallen," Capita said in a statement.
The MOJ held a joint seminar with G4S in January, reassuring
its investors that the security firm was not blacklisted from government work
after its failure to provide enough security guards for the London Olympics.
Analysts at Jefferies said in a note afterwards
that they estimated business opportunities for firms with the MOJ amounted to
300-400 million pounds worth of prison facilities management, 100-150 million
in electronic tagging and 60-100 million of criminal fines compliance work.
Other government departments have also been blamed
when deals involving the private sector have gone awry, including the
mishandling of the award of the West Coast Main Line train operating franchise
late last year.
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