14 March 2014 by Kathleen Hall
MoJ singled out
in damning review of government contracting
[…] The report says it was
‘shocking’ that it took the ministry eight years to spot overcharging by G4S
and Serco for the tagging of prisoners.
It
also said fines of ‘a mere £2,200’ to Capita over its inadequate supply of
interpreters to the court service did ‘not come close to taking into account
the cost to the criminal justice system and to individuals caused by their
failure to deliver’.
Margaret
Hodge MP (pictured), the committee's chair, said the government must ‘urgently
get its house in order.’
She
said: ‘Recent scandals illustrate the failure of some contractors to live up to
expected standards.’ She said these include the ‘astonishing news’ of the G4S
and Serco overcharging.
The
report calls for the extension of the Freedom of Information Act to include
public contracts with private providers to tackle the lack of openness around
government contracts.
Hodge
said leading outsourcers G4S, Atos, Serco and Capita have said they are
prepared to accept these measures. ‘It therefore appears that the main barriers
to greater transparency lie within government itself.’
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