Debates between Edward Leigh and Toby Perkins during the 2015-2017 Parliament

CSC: Redundancies

Debate between Edward Leigh and Toby Perkins
Tuesday 28th February 2017

(7 years, 9 months ago)

Westminster Hall
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Toby Perkins Portrait Toby Perkins
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It seems rude to say no, so I will briefly sum up.

Edward Leigh Portrait Sir Edward Leigh (in the Chair)
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It is always lovely to hear from you.

Toby Perkins Portrait Toby Perkins
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In conclusion, I am pleased with the tone of the Minister’s response. I am grateful for her undertaking to pursue with the Cabinet Office the points that have been discussed. We are all conscious that we have had a history of people being put out of work by machines. We know that; it is progress. We are not all still riding on horseback; we have cars now. It seems a shame that we move from the people to the machines, and the machines get ever more efficient, with the outsourcing organisations coming in and saying, “We can provide the same services with many fewer machines.” Even then, the pursuit of profit means that those jobs, funded by the British taxpayer, are ending up offshore, and that poses serious questions for all political parties and for Governments about how we ensure that the desire to get the best value for taxpayer money does not come at too great a cost to the UK economy.

As the Minister has correctly reflected, we have genuine reasons to be concerned by the decision-making processes that have been pursued at CSC. As it lurches from one failure to another, there is concern about the implications not only for those employees and the communities left behind, but for those services that rely on CSC.

Question put and agreed to.

Resolved,

That this House has considered redundancies at CSC.