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.

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.