Privatisation Not Working

Those of us who have been living with the ongoing nightmare of probation privatisation will be extremely interested in the breaking news regarding another Tory privatisation, that of Learndirect. In addition to information now hidden in the interests of 'commercial sensitivity', I'm pretty sure MTCnovo complained about the quality of their inspection as well. Note too how a lot of money seems to have disappeared, just as with the CRCs. This in the Guardian:-   

Learndirect branded inadequate in Ofsted report it tried to suppress

The UK’s largest provider of adult training and apprenticeships has been branded inadequate in a damning inspection by the education watchdog Ofsted, which it then went to court to try to suppress. Learndirect, which has almost 73,000 trainees on its apprenticeships and training programmes, went to the high court to try to quash the report in which it is said to have been awarded the lowest possible grades.

However, its application for a judicial review to overturn the report was refused in a judgment on Friday and Ofsted confirmed the as-yet unpublished report would be released on Thursday. According to reports in the trade newspaper FE Week, which was in court, Learndirect – the UK’s largest vocational training provider – was awarded grade fours for its apprenticeships and outcomes for learners.

Among the criticisms was that “management of apprentices is ineffective”, while about a third of learners on apprenticeships “do not receive their entitlement to off-the-job learning” and fail to develop “the skills they require to progress to the next step in their career”, the paper reports. Details of the case emerged when the court lifted reporting restrictions on Monday after refusing Learndirect permission to appeal.

Responding to the court judgment, Learndirect said it had challenged Ofsted’s inspection because it did not believe the process was a true reflection of the company’s training quality and performance. “The business presented compelling evidence as part of the appeal to support this view,” a spokesperson said. “In particular, we felt that the sample size of 0.6% used by Ofsted to arrive at its conclusions is not sufficient to judge the quality of Learndirect’s training. We are therefore extremely disappointed with the verdict.”

Ofsted defended its inspection. A spokesperson said: “Seventeen inspectors took part in this inspection over four days when they spoke to learners and apprentices. Inspectors interviewed employers, apprentices and learners in person and over the phone, reviewed portfolios of work, and looked at progress reviews when they gathered evidence. As well as visiting apprentices in their workplace, inspectors also reviewed a wide range of evidence to ensure that both the judgments and inspection grades were secure.”

Court documents passed to the Guardian by FE Week, which worked on a joint investigation with the Financial Times, show Learndirect was concerned about the potentially damaging effect of the inspection report on its business, which is largely dependent on government funding.

Earlier this year it was reported that Learndirect, which has 1,645 employees, was consulting on redundancy plans that could affect up to one in 10 of its staff. Learndirect’s spokesperson said on Monday that the company’s underlying business remained stable and it would continue to focus on its learners.

He added: “The business’s recent financial performance has been significantly impacted by external factors, in particular successive central government funding cuts which have reduced our revenues by £100m over the last three years. Significant cuts have affected all providers in the sector. We have responded to these difficult market conditions by changing our operating model and diversifying our income, and we have remained competitive throughout this period.”

Accounts filed with Companies House show that the finances of Learndirect and its associated companies – ultimately owned by Lloyds Banking Group – have deteriorated in recent years. Learndirect’s profit after tax dwindled from £10m in 2012 to just £1.6m in the year to July 2015, the most recent period for which figures are available, despite revenues surging from £134m to £171m.

At the same time, Learndirect’s parent companies, Pimco (Holdings) and Pimco 2909 paid out tens of millions of pounds in management fees, dividends and interest payments. Pimco 2909’s outgoings in 2012 include the £500,000 sponsorship of the Marussia Formula One motor-racing team, chaired by Darryl Eales, who was a Pimco 2909 board member and former chief executive of LDC. LDC is the private equity arm of Lloyds and is the ultimate owner of Pimco (Holdings) and Pimco 2909.

Learndirect was launched by the government as a charity and taken private by LDC in 2011. At that point it had no borrowings but the group of companies is now heavily laden with debt. The group had nearly £96m of debts due for repayment after one year, including £44m to Lloyds Development Capital. That compares to £85m of assets, of which £71m is marked as “goodwill” – essentially notional value rather than tangible assets.

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Talking of MTCnovo, thanks to the reader for letting us know about this from last week:-

Dear colleagues

The MTCnovo Board would personally like to inform you that Rich Gansheimer will be finishing his secondment with MTCnovo at the end of this month and will be returning to Management and Training Corporation’s (MTC) Corrections division in America.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank Rich for his outstanding leadership, unwavering commitment and enormous contribution in transforming the business. Rich’s professionalism, expertise and first-hand knowledge of the justice markets have helped establish MTCnovo as a valued partner of the Ministry of Justice. We are sad to see Rich leaving us and wish him all the best as he returns back to MTC in the USA.

Rich said: "It has been an enormous privilege to lead this wonderful business. Working with MTCnovo has been one of the most defining and rewarding projects of my career, and I’d like to thank all our staff for their dedication, hard work and support. I wish you well and look forward to seeing MTCnovo’s continued success."

New Managing Director

We are pleased to announce that David Hood will be appointed as the Managing Director of MTCnovo in mid-October 2017. David will join us from management consultants Veracity, prior to this he worked at the National Offender Management Service (NOMS). He brings with him a wealth of experience, knowledge and expertise which will help guide MTCnovo onto its next chapter. Ahead of taking up his role, David will be taking time to get to know the team.

David said of his appointment: "I am delighted to be joining MTCnovo, the opportunity to take forward the excellent and important work Rich and the team are doing is a real privilege. Clearly, the world we work in continues to present substantial challenges, but I’m confident that we have a great base from which to confront those challenges. I look forward to meeting you all and understanding more about the great work you do."

Rich will continue to oversee operations until he leaves on August 31, and all reporting lines will remain the same.

For the interim period ahead of David taking up the role, the MTCnovo Executive Team will report into Helga Swidenbank, Director of London CRC, and she will report to the Board.

MTCnovo Board of Directors

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"He brings with him a wealth of experience, knowledge and expertise which will help guide MTCnovo onto its next chapter." I wonder where he got that from?

This from the MoJ website:-

Director, Contracted Services
David Hood



Biography

David has extensive commercial experience, and joins NOMS from a senior role in the Ministry of Justice’s Commercial and Contract Management Directorate. In this role David has responsibility for the commercial management of private prison contracts, CRC contracts and PECS contracts among others.

Director, Contracted Services

Responsible for operational delivery managed through contracts with other providers such as:

• contracted prisons
• community rehabilitation companies
• prisoner escort and custody services

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This from the archive, Monday, 28 November 2016:-

TR - The Next Phase

Senior Civil Servants never seem to stick around for long as they climb the greasy pole; they're never around when everything starts to fall apart. Here's another rising star to watch:-

Darren Tierney appointed Probation System Review SRO

Darren Tierney has joined the NOMS Agency Board as the Probation System Review Senior Responsible Owner (SRO).

CRC contracts became operational in February 2015 and the Probation System Review has been set up to assess progress against the objectives set out in the Transforming Rehabilitation Programme. The initial phase of the review has been undertaken by a small team led by Andrea Torode working to David Hood.

This has found that while overall CRC performance has been steadily improving against the measures in the contract, actual case volumes are different to those which had been anticipated; there is variation in quality of delivery; and progress in some areas (such as Through the Gate support) is less than expected.

The next phase of the review involves detailed engagement with CRC Providers to improve current arrangements.

Michael Spurr said: “Ministers have made this a key priority for the Department and to take the work forward we are strengthening arrangements by appointing a dedicated SRO at Director level. I’m really pleased that Darren Tierney has agreed to take the role. He brings excellent programme management and policy experience to the Agency which will significantly enhance Board capability.

Andrea and her team will work to Darren who will take overall responsibility for the review receiving dedicated support from Commercial and Finance colleagues across the Department. David Hood will concentrate on managing day to day service delivery across both the CRCs and other NOMS Contracts.”

Darren Tierney said: “I am delighted to be joining NOMS as SRO for the Probation System Review. The services provided by CRCs are vitally important and Ministers and the NOMS Board are rightly focussed on ensuring those services are being delivered effectively. It is great to be joining the team here, and I look forward to building on the great work done to date by Andrea Torode and David Hood and their teams.”