Asked by: Joe Benton (Labour - Bootle)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the potential effect of the privatisation of Ministry of Justice shared services on jobs in Bootle constituency.
Answered by Simon Hughes
The Ministry of Justice is entering into detailed discussions with Shared Services Connected Limited (SSCL) regarding the future delivery of their back office services with the intention of awarding a contract in August 2014. We expect this to bring increased savings and efficiency in back-office functions, provide further benefits across wider Government and offer better value for money to the tax payer.
SSCL have stated their intention of providing 12 months job protection for all transferring staff from the point of transfer in October 2014. This means that there will be no compulsory redundancies during this period. No decisions have been made to close buildings and we expect all sites to remain open during this period.
Following the transfer of staff, services and IT, there will be a stabilisation stage during which SSCL will look at how the service is currently delivered. No decisions will be made until SSCL has had the opportunity to fully understand the operation.
We will continue to work with staff, trade unions and other stakeholders to assess any impacts on staff.
Asked by: Joe Benton (Labour - Bootle)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to protect personal data held by Ministry of Justice Shared Services when that data is off-shored to countries with less robust data protection than the UK.
Answered by Simon Hughes
The Ministry of Justice is entering into detailed discussions with Shared Services Connected Limited (SSCL) regarding the future delivery of their back office services with the intention of awarding a contract in August 2014. We expect this to bring increased savings and efficiency in back-office functions, provide further benefits across wider Government and offer better value for money to the tax payer.
It is a part of Shared Services Connected Limited's business strategy to move some of its work offshore. However, no decision has been taken to move any of the work of MoJ Shared Services offshore. Should there be any proposals to offshore MoJ work in the future, specific agreement would be needed from the MoJ. This would also include the need to make sure that the right level of data security was in place.
Asked by: Joe Benton (Labour - Bootle)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what discussions took place between officials in his Department, the Home Office and STERIA before the decision to privatise Ministry of Justice shared services was taken.
Answered by Simon Hughes
Prior to entering these detailed discussions with Shared Services Connected Limited (a joint venture between STERIA and the Cabinet Office) all options were fully evaluated. A business case was developed to evaluate the two Independent Shared Service Centre (ISSC) options, alongside the option to remain a standalone organisation.
The business case was informed by proposals from both ISSC framework providers, which included SSCL. In order to complete these proposals, both providers learned about the existing MoJ Shared Services organisation through visits to our sites and through the information that was provided to them about:
· How Shared Services fitted in to the MoJ organisation.
· What services they provided and who their customers were.
· How many transactions were processed in a typical day.
· Who their partners were and what systems they used.
· The projects that were currently underway.
The evaluation criteria in the business case included people impact, services delivery, cost and IT. Overall the SSCL proposal was the strongest, in part due to the investment that they were already making in a new IT platform and the fact that the costs of this could be shared across multiple government departments.
The Ministry of Justice is now entering into detailed discussions with Shared Services Connected Limited (SSCL) regarding the future delivery of their back office services, with the intention of awarding a contract in August 2014.
The Home Office have also been considering their options at the same time as the Ministry of Justice but the two departments have completed their evaluations as separate and independent exercises. The Home Office have reached the same conclusion and assessed SSCL to be its preferred option. The two departments have started contract negotiations at the same time but each will have a separate contract with SSCL. It's intended that MoJ and Home Office follow the same process going forward and will make changes within the same timescales.
Both of these evaluations followed the publication of the Government's Next Generation Shared Services Strategy in December 2012 and a rigorous procurement exercise completed by Cabinet Office to select the providers of the two Independent Shared Service Centres.
Asked by: Joe Benton (Labour - Bootle)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, for what reason his Department did not consult the Public and Commercial Services Union on an in-house bid for the Ministry of Justice shared services contract.
Answered by Simon Hughes
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) is entering into detailed discussions with Shared Services Connected Limited (SSCL) regarding the future delivery of their back office serviceswith the intention of awarding a contract in August 2014.
Prior to entering these detailed discussions with SSCL, all options were fully evaluated. A business case was developed to evaluate both Independent Shared Service Centre (ISSC) options as well as the option for back office to remain a standalone organisation.
Detailed information was put together on the in-house option, which reflected our existing organisation and also any known plans for the coming years, including those for growth in our customer numbers. This information was prepared in parallel with the proposals from the two ISSC framework providers. The costs and benefits of all three options between now and 2021/22 were assessed and this informed the business case, which was approved by the MoJ Departmental Board.
The MoJ has been meeting regularly with trade union representatives since we started considering the options in December 2013 prior to any decisions being made and also prior to taking the outcome of the evaluation to the MoJ Departmental Board. Trade Union representation includes representatives from Public and Commercial Services (PCS).
Once we knew the decision had been taken to enter into detailed discussions with Shared Services Connected Limited (SSCL). We informed trade union representatives. Formal consultation is now taking place about the transfer of MoJ staff to SSCL under TUPE. We have been working with these staff and keeping them informed of developments. This will continue throughout the transition process.
SSCL recognise our existing unions, including PCS, and will continue to consult with them after the staff transfer has taken place.