Oral Answers to Questions

Paul Flynn Excerpts

Tuesday 1st July 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Vara]

The hon. Gentleman does neither himself nor his party any credit by using such language. A document has been made public and no deal was done with it—that is the fact. It would help the House if the hon. Gentleman dealt with facts rather than supposition.

[Paul Flynn (Newport West) (Lab)]

11. What assessment he has made of the potential effect on jobs in Newport of the privatisation of Ministry of Justice shared services.

[The Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice (Chris Grayling)]

The Ministry of Justice is entering into detailed discussions with Shared Services Connected Ltd regarding future delivery of its back office administration services. Subject to contract, the majority of Ministry of Justice shared services staff, including those at Newport, will transfer to SSCL under TUPE. Their jobs will be protected in their current location for at least 12 months from the date of transfer, expected to be in mid-October 2014.

[Paul Flynn]

Shared services in Newport have been a brilliant success, saving at least £10 million a year for the country. Steria has wasted £56 million without providing a report of any use. Are my constituents right to go on strike and feel anger against an ingrate Government who reward failure and punish success?

[Chris Grayling]

I very much regret the fact that the Government set about a path that led to that £56 million write-off—I mean the Government in office when the contract first started, before the 2010 general election.

Let me say to the hon. Gentleman and those staff in Newport, who have done a good job for us and will continue to do a good job for the services we provide across Government in the future: the reality is that we are having to take difficult decisions. The hon. Gentleman is part of a party that aspires to be in government in nine months’ time. That party needs to realise that if it is—God forbid—elected next year, it will have to take difficult decisions as well. It does not appear to have realised that.