As the MoJ gears up for the retendering of the failed CRC contracts, the current edition of Private Eye highlights yet another example of the very cosy 'revolving door' they operate for top executives:-
The government department in charge of probation has hired the boss of a badly performing private probation company as an executive director.
In 2015 the government privatised the probation service - which aims to steer offenders away from crime and into jobs and housing - by handing services for all but the most dangerous criminals to regional "community rehabilitation companies". From 2015 to 2018, Helga Swidenbank was director of probation at the London Community Rehabilitation Company (CRC), the largest CRC and run by a consortium led by US private prison firm, MTC.
The government gives the MTC consortium more than £70m a year, but official inspection reports are grim. The latest, from 2018, describes the London company's performance as "unacceptably low". It "did not sufficiently support rehabilitation" of ex-prisoners; public protection was "not of an acceptable standard"; and the privatised probation service was "not treating child safeguarding work as a priority".
Probation staff who contacted the Eye were shocked that Swidenbank left the CRC late last year to become an executive director of HM Prison and Probation Service - the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) executive agency which "oversees probation delivery" by the privatised CRCs. Though Swidenbank joined in September, her appointment was not announced and the department does not list her among directors on its website.
The revolving door between the MoJ and its poorly performing contractors is doubly worrying because the CRCs will soon be bidding for new contracts. Justice secretary David Gauke is ending the private probation contracts two years early, in 2010, because of their dismal performance. He is intent on retendering the contracts - meaning one of the worst performing companies now has an ex-boss in a senior position in the government's probation department.
The MoJ would not comment on Swidenbank's appointment, but did say she was director for youth custody, so not directly responsible for probation. Meanwhile, Swidenbank's replacement at the London CRC, David Hood, was formerly director of contracted services at HM Prison and Probation Service (then known as the National Offender Management Service, or NOMS). In this previous role Hood was in charge of outsourced probation services for the government; he now works for the largest of those outsourced services.
I'm a PO in a CRC and on/in the final salary pension scheme. Does anyone know if this will continue if/When the new contracts get renewed or will we be removed from it?
ReplyDeletehttps://www.gov.uk/government/news/local-government-workers-to-receive-increased-pensions-protections
DeleteThis only scratches the surface of the cross-contamination that takes place in the revolving door culture of executive positions.
ReplyDeleteHow about this blog identifies who has made a public-private &/or private-public transition? How about an audit trail to show just how cosy this toxic practice has become for a select few & thus how the MoJ/NOMS/HMPPS preferred policies have been embedded throughout our justice system via a few chums - whilst lining their own pockets with taxpayer gold.
* Swidenbank: HMPS – Sodexo – MTC – HMPPS
* Hood: NOMS/HMPPS – MTC
* Yvonne Thomas joined Interserve in 2011 from the Ministry of Justice
...
From the Guardian 2013.
Deletehttps://amp-theguardian-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/jun/04/corporate-britain-corrupt-lobbying-revolving-door?amp_js_v=a2&_gsa=1&usqp=mq331AQCCAE%3D#aoh=15476412419753&_ct=1547641321578&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&_tf=From%20%251%24s&share=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fcommentisfree%2F2013%2Fjun%2F04%2Fcorporate-britain-corrupt-lobbying-revolving-door
But the real corruption that has eaten into the heart of British public life is the tightening corporate grip on government and public institutions – not just by lobbyists, but by the politicians, civil servants, bankers and corporate advisers who increasingly swap jobs, favours and insider information, and inevitably come to see their interests as mutual and interchangeable. The doors are no longer just revolving but spinning, and the people charged with protecting the public interest are bought and sold with barely a fig leaf of regulation.
DeleteTake David Hartnett, head of tax at HM Revenue & Customs until last year and the man whose "sweetheart deals" allowed Starbucks and Vodafone to avoid paying billions in tax. He now works for the giant City accountancy firm Deloitte, which works for Vodafone. The two-way traffic between the big four auditing firms and government is legendary: staff are sent on secondments to HMRC and the political parties and then return to devise new loopholes for corporate clients.
Then there's Hector Sants, head of the Financial Services Authority in charge of regulating banks until last year, who joined Barclays six months later. But he's only one of a stream of regulators who have made similar moves. The same goes for the 3,500 military officers and defence ministry officials who have taken up jobs in arms companies in the past 16 years – as it does for top civil servants and intelligence officials. The cabinet secretary, Jeremy Heywood, is the living embodiment of the revolving door, having moved effortlessly from the Treasury to Blair's office to the investment bank Morgan Stanley and back to work for Cameron.
That's before you get to the politicians. City directorships in opposition used to be a Tory preserve. But after New Labour embraced corporate power it became a cross-party affair. Blair is in a class of his own, of course, raking in £20m a year from banks and autocratic governments; but he is followed closely by dozens of New Labour ministers who moved out of government into lucrative corporate jobs, often for firms hustling for contracts from their former departments.
It defies rationality to believe that the prospect of far better paid jobs in the private sector doesn't influence the decisions of ministers and officials – or isn't used by corporations to shape policy. Who can seriously doubt that politicians were encouraged to champion light touch regulation before the crash by the lure and lobbying of the banks, as well as by an overweening ideology?
Privatisation has extended the web of lubricated relationships, as a mushrooming £80bn business uses jobs and cash to foist a policy that is less accountable, lowers standards and is routinely more expensive on the public realm. When 142 peers linked to companies involved in private healthcare were able to vote on last year's health bill that opened the way to sweeping outsourcing – and the City consultancy McKinsey helped draw it up – it's not hard to see why.
Britain is now an increasingly corrupt country at its highest levels – not in the sense of directly bribing officials, of course, and it's almost entirely legal. But our public life and democracy is now profoundly compromised by its colonisation. Corporate and financial power have merged into the state.
That vice can be broken, but it demands radical change: closure of the revolving doors; a ban on ministers and civil servants working for regulated private companies; a halt to the corrosive tide of privatisation; and a downward squeeze on boardroom pay to reduce the corporate allure. It's going to need a democratic backlash.
Seumas Milne
Even the Mail on Sunday are flagging up the revolving door and relationship between Government and big businesses. This from last Sunday.
Deletehttps://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-6585673/New-Health-Minister-worked-firm-trying-win-NHS-contracts.html
Controversy over government's ‘revolving door’ is reignited as it's revealed new Health Minister worked for firm trying to win NHS contracts
DeleteControversy over the ‘revolving door’ between the Government and business was reignited last night after it emerged that a newly appointed Health Minister has been working for a fast-growing Skype-style GP appointment company.
Former Tory MP Nicola Blackwood, who was a Health Minister when she lost her seat at the 2017 Election, controversially received a peerage from Theresa May in the New Year Honours List.
Last week, she was announced as the new Health Minister for Innovation after being elevated to the House of Lords.
However, The Mail on Sunday has established that after losing her Oxford West and Abingdon seat, she became a paid adviser to Push Doctor, an online GP service hoping to gain a foothold into the vast NHS market.
Ms Blackwood sat on the governance board of Push Doctor, which offers private ‘pay as you go’ video consultations priced at £30 for ten minutes and wants to work with the NHS, as well as advising it on how to expand its digital health services.
In her new ministerial post, Ms Blackwood will be responsible for digital technologies in the NHS.
Last night, shadow Health Minister Justin Madders said: ‘This is yet another shocking example of private health companies getting far too close to Tory Ministers.’
A source close to Ms Blackwood said she accepted the Push Doctor role last spring when she had no plans to return to the Government and that the Health Minister vacancy in the Lords only arose a month ago.
The source added Ms Blackwood never had an executive role at Push Doctor, would not be directly involved in NHS procurement decisions and said her elevation to the Lords has been approved by the House of Lords Appointments Commission.
However, her role at Push Doctor did raise eyebrows at the advisory committee on business appointments, the anti-corruption watchdog.
In a letter to Ms Blackwood last February, officials wrote: ‘Although you do not intend to have contact with Government in this role, there may be a risk that Push Doctor could gain an unfair advantage as a result of your contacts gained across Government/Whitehall during your time in ministerial office.’
Her new role was announced only days after Health Secretary Matt Hancock revealed details of a scheme to radically increase online consultations.
The Government hopes that a third of the 90 million NHS outpatient appointments performed annually will be conducted by video-link, an aim likely to trigger a feeding frenzy among private GP consultation firms such as Push Doctor, Dr Doctor and Babylon, which already offers an NHS service.
A Department for Health spokesman said: ‘To avoid any perception of conflict of interest, Nicola Blackwood resigned from all other paid and unpaid advisory roles in advance of her appointment.’
Meanwhile, NHS England’s chief digital officer is joining another video GP consultation company.
Juliet Bauer told colleagues that she was leaving ‘with immediate effect’ to join Livi, a Swedish firm that holds NHS contracts to provide online GP appointments in Surrey and the North West of England.
Let's not forget Ms Thomas has been given a golden hand shake from Interserve to go of and cause damage elsewhere sorry I mean start off her own business - probably preparing her own bid for a CRC
DeleteNew venture is called "nouvion", but no idea what it does. Ms Thomas, however, is very clear what she does:
Delete"A senior Director and Chairperson with expertise gained in both FTSE and public sector organisations. Responsible for both public and private sector front line services in healthcare, education, skills and justice markets in the U.K. and Saudi Arabia. Specialises in generating value by setting strategic direction and turning concepts into real deliverables. Excellent track record of re-structuring to deliver efficiencies, business development, turnarounds and guiding major programmes to succesful conclusions. Experience of building public/private partnerships, securing complex commercial deals and constructing new corporate and government bodies in the UK and internationally. An excellent, media trained communicator.
Specialties: -Public/Private sector strategy
-Innovation
-Business Development
-Commercial Negotiation
-Business Efficiency & Transformation
-Stakeholder communication and management"
What a pile of drivel...I wish this person no success in whatever she is trying to convince us she believes she is adding value to
Deletehttps://suite.endole.co.uk/insight/company/11725815-nouvion-limited
DeleteRemember this?
ReplyDelete"Paul McDowell, the chief inspector of probation, is at the centre of a row following the disclosure that his wife is the deputy managing director of a private justice company that this week won the largest number of contracts to run probation services in England and Wales."
Swidenbank was a useless lump of **** when she ran HMP Bronzefield. Not surprising London CRC failed under her "leadership".
ReplyDeleteYet Napo caved into her demands and continue to be impotent as a union against the crc.
DeleteA single US engineering firm is working on £200 billion-worth of major London and UK infrastructure projects, including Crossrail, HS2 and the £5 billion super-sewer, the Standard can reveal on Wednesday.
ReplyDeleteMPs and campaign groups warned public-sector construction works are becoming “a closed shop”, where “the taxpayer has to pick up the pieces”, after it emerged Jacobs, a Texan engineering firm, is concurrently working on almost all London’s biggest upgrade works.
Jacobs won some of the deals directly, and inherited some via acquisitions including of US rival CH2M in 2017 for £2.1 billion. It also has contracts for Heathrow’s third runway expansion, the £4 billion Parliamentary restoration works, Gatwick’s investment projects, the planned new Thames barrier, the Lower Thames Crossing, and a string of Transport for London upgrade contracts.
But it has faced allegations of conflict of interest as it works as project manager and contractor on major infrastructure projects, including the £56 billion HS2 works.
Conservative MP Cheryl Gillan said: “With CH2M/Jacobs we’re seeing personnel revolving around various construction projects, and conflicts of interest. It’s like a closed shop. There is no competent person looking at the UK’s infrastructure demands, no single Government minister taking an overview.
“We are growing leviathans of the construction industry, and every time you grow one you face the problem we had with [the construction giant which went into liquidation last year,] Carillion and the taxpayer has to pick up the pieces. These are frightening sums of money involved.”
Shadow Transport Secretary Andy McDonald said he believed “that the lessons of recent history are going unheeded.” He added: “Increasing amounts of government business are going to the biggest companies. A recent report from the Institute for Government showed that government spending on strategic suppliers, companies which receive more than £100 million in revenue a year from government, has gone up by two thirds in the last five years.
“Given the recent and well-publicised financial problems of many of these companies, this is clearly a risky approach.”
John O’Connell, chief executive of the Taxpayers’ Alliance, said: “This should set alarm bells ringing. Jacobs’ contracts involve vast sums of taxpayers’ cash, so their corporate governance must be beyond reproach.”
Jacobs said: “We are one of the premier professional services consultants supporting the UK’s major infrastructure projects... Reflecting this degree of talent we have been awarded various high-profile contracts.”
A must read just popped up in the Independent.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/prison-probation-reform-recalls-women-chris-grayling-jail-overcrowding-stewart-ministry-justice-a8732486.html
'Getafix
Well done 'Getafix - but the author clearly doesn't understand the difference between breach of bail and breach of licence!
DeleteNumber of offenders recalled to prison surges following 'disastrous' probation reforms
Ministers have been accused of pushing through “disastrous” probation reforms as it emerged the number of offenders recalled to prison for breaching bail conditions has surged by more than a quarter in four years.
Mandatory supervision, which sees offenders monitored in the community after release from prison, was extended to custodial sentences under 12 months as part of a flagship probation overhaul in 2015 by the then justice minister Chris Grayling.
The conditions can see offenders sent back to prison for just 14 to 28 days for breaching their bail conditions on issues as minor as getting a taxi without permission or being late to meet their probation officer, charities said.
An analysis of government figures shows the number of recalls to custody following breach of licence increased by 26 per cent to 21,914 in the four years to 2017. In the three months to June 2018 the figure stood at 5,999 – an 11 per cent increase on the same period the previous year.
Labour’s shadow justice secretary Richard Burgon said the increase underlined how the prisons and probation system was “failing to rehabilitate people after years of unprecedented cuts and privatisation by successive Conservative justice secretaries”.
“We now have a situation where far too many are being recalled for technical breaches, which puts needless pressure on our already overcrowded prisons and undermines any progress offenders are making in turning their lives around,” he added.
Women are disproportionately affected, as the vast majority of female inmates – 72 per cent – are sent to prison for committing non-violent offences and are therefore serving sentences of less than a year.
Research by the Prison Reform Trust in December showed recall numbers for women had increased by 131 per cent in the last year, compared with 22 per cent for men, with more than 1,700 female inmates sent back to jail in England and Wales in 2017.
Alex Hewson, policy and commuications officer at the charity, said the new figures demonstrated that Mr Grayling’s policy had “failed”, and urged ministers to “end it once and for all”.
“The government was warned before it extended mandatory post-custody supervision to people serving short prison sentences that without adequate support in the community, people would be set up to fail,” he added.
Frances Crook, chief executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said: “This is just one more example of the disastrous reforms imposed by Chris Grayling. We need legislation urgently to sweep away the recalls framework, to bring back safety and justice to prisons and to individuals.”
The figures come amid a developing crisis facing prisons in England and Wales, with self-harm and violent attacks at record levels, and widespread understaffing and overcrowding in jails.
The prison population in England and Wales has doubled since the early 1990s, up from 40,000 to more than 80,000 in 2018.
A probation service spokesperson said: “Public protection is our priority and recall is used to ensure that offenders on licence who present a high risk to the public are returned to prison as quickly as possible.
“Our probation reforms extended supervision and support to around 40,000 extra offenders each year, which explains why there has been an increase in recalls since 2015.”
Talking about failure, no computers again today! Apparently it’s a ‘national problem.’ A national disgrace more like. The only good side to it is it stops the constant bombardment of management crap.
ReplyDeleteThey mus t be worried sick to realise that we cope extremely well without their ‘guidance.’ And it proves that they are being paid money for nothing.
"Rosemary tell us why working as a Probation Officer doesn’t always feel like work."
ReplyDeletehttps://www.facebook.com/pg/TrainToBeAProbationOfficer/posts/?ref=notif
Bloody hell Rosemary obviously doesn't train in an Interserve CRC and must have one service user on her case load Lol I want a pair of those rose tinted glasses she's been issued !!
ReplyDeletemaybe get a job thats actually useful to society!!!
ReplyDelete