Ministry of Justice Shared Services

Jessica Morden Excerpts

Tuesday 8th July 2014 Westminster Hall

[Paul Flynn (Newport West) (Lab)]

It is a great pleasure to serve under your chairmanship for the first time, Mrs Osborne.

I have an extraordinary story to tell, of Government ineptitude, which will give us a key to their legacy to the nation. It is a story about punishing success and rewarding failure. The shared services in Newport were set up in 2006. It was a happy occasion. There was a lovely building, and thanks to the enterprising action of the council, shared services were welcomed. It was a marvellous idea to take little inefficient units that operated in prisons throughout the country and concentrate them in one centre, to provide a more efficient service and to save money—which it did. It saved £32 million in the first two years. The staff have by now, through their efficiency, dedication and skills, created savings of £120 million.

What do we do now? Shall we alter a winning team and wreck something that works so well? In this case the answer is yes. The Government, with fanatical devotion to the concept that all that is private is good, wonderful and efficient, and all that is public is bad and inefficient—the heresy behind so many of their failures, which we have witnessed in the past few years—decided to set up an alternative, as an improvement. They ran a scheme, which was operated by a group including the firm Steria. They sought a more efficient way of running the system, rather than leaving it alone and letting it continue to make money and savings for the country.

I shall not go too far into the detail of who is to blame, because, as we know, failure is an orphan and it is only success that has parents. However, Steria had a leading role in the operation from 2011. What has it achieved? It has achieved a loss of £56 million. What has it produced? Nothing of any practical value: that is the simple truth. When people make a loss of that kind, what should we do? Should we dismiss them, or forget about them? No. The Government are setting up a new consortium. They will let Fujitsu run the IT this time, but the project is still run by the French company Steria. It has a contract from the Government. We shall be looking for some of the facts from the Minister this morning, but that contract could lead to the loss of jobs or of 49% of the work—we cannot translate that into jobs. It could mean the offshoring of jobs, probably to India.

[Jessica Morden (Newport East) (Lab)]

As my hon. Friend will be aware, the Minister said during questions last week that he is against offshoring jobs in his Department. Does my hon. Friend share my concern about the fact that the Cabinet Office seems to have no such qualms, and does not Steria’s record of cutting and offshoring jobs and closing offices speak for itself?

[Paul Flynn]

My hon. Friend is right. There is general puzzlement about the conflicting statements that come from the Government. Perhaps they can be cleared up this morning. There is a scheme: the jobs will be privatised, and I do not know how the Government can exercise control if that happens. We are told that they are against offshoring jobs. The Prime Minister said so a short while ago; he said he wanted us to “reshore” jobs and bring them into this country. It seems an act of madness to take successful jobs from an initiative developed in Newport and send them overseas, and to spread the profits to a foreign company—a French company.

I am rather surprised when I see the Minister who is replying to the debate, whom I have greatly admired in his political career. We have been in the House a long time, and in his sensible period, when he was a Liberal Democrat, before his metamorphosis, he would have agreed with every word of my argument, as he has on many occasions. The red boxes have a strange effect, and change people’s personalities, but I am sure that it is possible to revert. I was the right hon. Gentleman’s constituent for many years. He used regularly to send me letters and would ask me what the Lib Dems should do for the country. I always made interesting answers and suggestions, not all of which he followed up.

--- Later in debate ---

[Simon Hughes]

I was going to make that point next, so I shall make it next as planned. I understand the hon. Gentleman’s interest, as an MP not far away from Newport.

There is obvious and understandable concern about any offshoring, following a transfer. First, there has been no decision to offshore any Ministry of Justice shared services work. Secondly, I tell all hon. Members—the hon. Member for Newport West and his colleagues—that should there be any such proposal, it would need the specific agreement of the Ministry of Justice. I therefore repeat the fact that the Secretary of State has made it absolutely clear that he would not support such a proposal. Given that this is the first opportunity I have had to speak on the issue, I make it clear that I would not support such a proposal either. It seems to me that we have an obligation, particularly in those services that do key jobs for the public, to have the jobs done in this country, and the Ministry of Justice has been very clear that it will retain the right to make a decision in relation to any such proposal.

[Jessica Morden]

Will the Minister give way?

[Simon Hughes]

No, I am going to finish what I have to say, otherwise I might not be able to complete my remarks in the time. The Secretary of State made a commitment and we have had reference to the commitments from the Prime Minister. I repeat the commitment to British jobs here in the UK, and I hope that that is very clear to everybody.