HOC 11 December 2008 : Parliamentary Debate
Mark Pritchard (The Wrekin) (Con): On a point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker. The defence training review is the largest private finance initiative in British history, worth £11 billion-indeed, the costs have increased in the last six months to £12 billion. I seek your advice, Mr. Deputy Speaker, because in today’s Financial Times it was announced that Land Securities Trillium, one of the major backers of the defence training review package, has pulled out of the project altogether. This has major implications for the future training of our armed forces not only in the short term, but in the medium to long term.
Is it not a disgrace that, yet again, the Government hav e chosen to leak this information to the Financial Times rather than bring it to the Floor of the House?
Mr. Deputy Speaker: I can only repeat that Mr. Speaker considers it extremely important that all important matters on which this House should have a view should be brought before the House, but I am sure the hon. Gentleman will find ways to pursue these matters himself, and the points he has made are on the record.
Shropshire Star Article Great quote from Mark Pritchard MP
“Government ministers need to come clean and declare this project dead”
News reaches manchester too! Eco home plan bust too!
Just 1700 homes for Deepcut site ?
Get Surrey - Manchester,England,UK
Deepcut was one of the casualties of the MoD’s Defence Training Review, which aims to
close and relocate several Armed Forces bases in the South East.
……Mark Pritchard has demanded a statement from the Ministry of Defence regarding the decision by Land Securities Trillium to withdraw from the Metrix consortium, the lead bidder for the Defence Training Review (DTR). A spokesman on behalf of Trillium stated that the company had invested a considerable amount of money on the project, but due to the significantly increased bid costs which were carried at risk by the bidders they would
now have to withdraw.
A Welsh unknown New Labour European candidate has attacked Plaid MEP Jill Evans over her opposition to the proposed Defence Training Academy at St Athan.saying Welsh workers should be incensed by her continuing refusal to support these cleaning jobs especially at a time when the global economic crisis means people are facing redundancy.
These minimum wage jobs are vital to the economy of Wales. At a time of serious economic challenges caused by news deregualtion of the markets and the encouragement of unlimited greed ..Plaid is on the side of ordinary working people.
If I were an eager observer of Welsh politics and concerned Labour supporter who cared about my party, what sort of questions would I be asking at this time?
Did Labour receive any motion requests for the Llandudno conference in March that called for the Euro selection process to be halted because of concerns over a stitch-up?
Was an official European office used for canvassing by candidates, against strict ethics rules? i.e. if a member of her staff called constituency secretaries to check they'd received correspondence and then asked if they would consider supporting them in the selection process it would contravene rules and standards in the European Parliament and the Labour Party.
Why were calls for party hustings during the selection process repeatedly refused by Transport House?
Does Eluned have any ambitions of being an Assembly Member, now or in the future?
Adam Price MP has a regular column in the weekly news magazine Golwg. That of 13 November was titled Y ddadl o blaid academi filwrol – ‘The debate in favour of a military academy’.
Much of it discusses the history of militarism in Wales, a comparison with the Scots, and the number of Welsh people in the armed forces historically and today. The part about St Athan actually only comes in the final few sentences as follows, with a translation of it below
Yn yr un modd, tra bod protestio yn erbyn polisiau a rhyfeloedd a dulliau ac arfau milwrol yn ddilys, ydi gwrthwynebu academi hyfforddiant (Academi Filwrol Sain Tathan ym Mro Morgannwg) fel y cyfryw yn gwneud synnwyr? Onid natur yr hyfforddiant ddylai fod ffocws ein gwrthwynebiad ni?
Wedi’r cwbl pan ffurfiwyd West Point gan yr Americanwr o Gymro, Thomas Jefferson, academi heddwch oedd ei weledigaeth e. Oni allwn ni ganolbwyntio ar greu, mewn cysylltiad a’r datblygiad hwn, pwyslais newydd a chanolfan rhyngwladol o ragoriaeth mewn ymdrechion i gadw heddwch.
In the same way, while it is correct to protest against military policies and means, against wars and arms, does it make sense to oppose a training academy as such (St Athan Military Training Academy in the Vale of Glamorgan)? Should it not be the nature of the training being provided that forms the focus for our opposition?
After all, when West Point was established by that Welsh American, Thomas Jefferson, his vision was of a peace academy. Can’t we concentrate, in relation to this development, on creating a new emphasis on an international centre of excellence in peace keeping activities.
10. Mark Pritchard (The Wrekin) (Con): How much his Department has spent on the defence training review programme to date; and if he will make a statement. [232056]
The Minister for the Armed Forces (Mr. Bob Ainsworth): Expenditure to date on the defence training review programme is £34.6 million. That includes the expenditure costs of both package 1 and package 2 of the training review programme.
Mark Pritchard: The Minister will know that the defence training review is the largest private finance initiative in British history. It was originally estimated that the cost would be £11 billion, but in the last six months it has risen to £12 billion. Will the Minister confirm whether this programme will go ahead and whether Treasury Ministers have been consulted about the escalating costs?
Mr. Ainsworth: The hon. Gentleman is right that the financial situation has led to cost growth in the programme, but we have worked with Metrix to see how to minimise the costs. I know that this will disappoint the hon. Gentleman greatly because of his constituency interest, but I have to say that the programme is still affordable and remains more affordable than the in-house alternative, so our plans are to go ahead with the programme on the basis of package 1.
David Taylor (North-West Leicestershire) (Lab/Co-op): May I return to the Metrix training contract, in the light of the unsatisfactory answer given by the Under-Secretary of State for Defence, my hon. Friend the Member for Grantham and Stamford (Mr. Davies)—our new hon. Friend—and, indeed, the answer given to the hon. Member for The Wrekin (Mark Pritchard)? The contract costs are more than £1 million a day and are soaring into the stratosphere. Will the Minister say whether or not the following quote was well sourced? The defence training review executive board investigated “major affordability issues” that could not be disclosed to the project board as they were “too sensitive”. What is going wrong with the contract?
The Minister for the Armed Forces (Mr. Bob Ainsworth): The costs to which my hon. Friend refers cover the provision of the defence training package over a 30-year programme, so he should not be surprised if some of the figures are high. I am sorry that he found what I said to the hon. Member for The Wrekin (Mark Pritchard) unsatisfactory, but we have re-examined affordability and remain convinced that the package is the best option going forward and that it is better than the in-house alternative in providing the quality of training that we need at a reasonable price—a good price for the taxpayer.
David Taylor (North-West Leicestershire) (Lab/Co-op): Will my hon. Friend the Minister comment on the training implications of the future strike capability of the RAF? In particular, does he think that the Metrix consortium’s contracts to train military personnel over the next 30 years, which have increased in cost by £1 billion, are adequate for the purpose? There seems to be a cabal of private companies locking the taxpayer and the military into a private finance initiative scheme that is costing much more money over the years for a far inferior service to the RAF and other forces.
Mr. Davies: I can assure my hon. Friend that the RAF is clear that the arrangements that we are making for training are indeed adequate for the purpose, to use his phrase.
Minister for Enterprise, Innovation & Networks (Chair) Minister for Education and Life-long Learning. Minister for Finance, Local Government and Public Services (Other Ministers with an interest in any of the agenda items for a meeting of the Steering Group will be invited to attend as appropriate.) 2. The Group’s terms of reference are to: • lead, monitor and oversee the Assembly Government’s commitments to the MoD and Metrix Consortium to ensure the successful delivery of the Defence Training Academy (DTA) proposals at St Athan in accordance with Metrix’s project timetable; • coordinate a collective effort across all levels of Government through identifying and ensuring coherence on all policy priority and operational issues that contribute to the realisation of the DTA project; • facilitate the effective engagement of private and public sector partners on the realisation of the DTA vision for St Athan; • ensure that the resource allocation process, both financial and staff, reflects the need for cross-portfolio budgeting to meet agreed priorities as set out in the Project Implementation Plan, when known, and that these priorities are tracked against delivery; 3. The Group shall keep its role under review, and shall evaluate its work and the need for its continued existence two years. 4. The Group will meet quarterly, in private unless it resolves otherwise. It will report to the full Cabinet from time to time. It may involve individuals and organisations from outside the Assembly to contribute to its work as appropriate. 5. The Secretariat for the Group will be provided by the Integrated Delivery Team in DEIN. The work of the Group will be supported by the well established St Athan Steering Group of senior officials. This will be expanded to include senior officials from DELLS and Local Government & Finance. [DOC]
Welsh Assembly Government | Disclosure log 1678 Q: How much WAG/DEIN staff time and at what cost has been dedicated to promoting the development of the St Athan site as a major centre of excellence in the ... R Morgan The Ministerial Steering Group I have established and chaired by the Deputy First Minister will ensure a joined up Team Wales approach to delivery of this project. It will meet in November to review progress.
Information Further to Ministerial Answers Information further to OAQ(3)0092(FM) issued by Brian Gibbons, the Minister for Social Justice and Local Government, in July 2007 To Andrew R.T. Davies:
....improvements required as a direct result of the proposed developments at St Athan which the Assembly Government is considering taking forward, namely: • New Northern access to the St Athan site from the B4265, including consequential improvements to access around the site; • Improvements to B4265 at Gilestone Old Mill; • Improvements to B4265 at the crossroads into St Athan village; • Waycock Cross junction improvements.
Vale of Glamorgan - SEWEF Construction Skills SEWEF are also in touch with WAG (DEIN) officials regarding the potential afforded by the proposal for a Defence Training College at St. Athan. ...
[PDF] PLANNING GUIDANCE (WALES)File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML INNOVATION AND NETWORKS (DEIN) OF THE WELSH. ASSEMBLY GOVERNMENT. 01. ST..... 4.5.2 The potential of additional jobs being created at RAF St Athan and ...
Council through its working relationship with DEIN, as no details were directly .....St Athan and planned direct access to the M4 its success can only now ...
File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML included in the DEIN Property Strategy and therefore direct .... within the plan area (e.g. St Athan, M4 Junction 33. Culverhouse Cross); ...
File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML Department of Enterprise, Innovation & Networks (DEIN), commissioned SQW Consulting .... to also look outwards e.g. around the impact of St.Athan...
234 We continued to make progress on Package 1 of the Defence Training Review (see paragraph 297 under People) to deliver training for all three Services at a new site at St Athan in South Wales. The Metrix consortium has been taking forward risk reduction work to secure planning consent and develop an affordable training solution. We aim to begin construction at St Athan in 2010, with training beginning in 2014. After reviewing further options for Package 2 it became apparent that the Metrix consortium was not able to offer an affordable and acceptable solution and the competition was therefore ended in January 2008. We are now considering a range of options to rationalise the estate in an affordable way while maintaining our supervisory care commitments. We also announced in January 2008 that we plan to relocate the Defence College of Logistics and Personnel Administration and the Director Royal Logistics Corps from Deepcut in Surrey and consolidate elements of logistics training at Worthy Down in Wiltshire and Southwick Park in Hampshire. This will enable the eventual disposal of the Deepcut site;
From: Cotton, Peter (DEIN)
Sent: 22 September 2006 15:00
To: Alan.Davies@capita.co.uk
Cc: Perren, Jeff (DE & T)
Subject: FW: ST Athan Highway Works - Invitation to Tender
Attachments: Contact Data - St Athan Highways.doc
You are invited to tender an offer for a commission by WAG to undertake the services described below. The commission is the development of an existing commission which has progressed to the financial limits of its current contractual arrangements (£50k) so a tender is being sought from consultants contracted by the framework agreement inherited from the former WDA. You are not obliged to tender and a decision by you not to do so will certainly not prejudice your position for further WAG commissions. Please note that if you do decide to tender it must bedelivered to the address described below in the envelopes described below before noon on 11th October 2006 . I shall be unavailable for assistance before that date, so the envelopes will be provided by Mr Jeff Perren, tel 01443 845800, email jeff.perren@wales.gsi.gov.uk. Please contact him to inform him of the address to which you require the envelopes tobe sent. and to make any other enquiries you may have about the details of the commission.
The conditions of contract for the commission will be as described in the core clauses and the clauses of Options A, X2, X9, X11.1, Y(UK)1 and Y(UK)2 of the second edition, June 1998, of ‘The Professional Services Contract’ published for the Institution of Civil Engineers.
BACKGROUND
The Assembly owns most of the several hundred acres of the former RAF St Athan Airfield, which remains operationally active. The present occupancy of the Assembly's site by the Ministry of Defence (primarily the RAF and DARA [Defence Aviation Repair Agency]) is progressively reducing , but a few other occupancies are continuing. The Army is the most significant neighbouring occupier of the remainder of the former airfield.
Redevelopment of much of the Assembly's site is the basis of a bid by a consortium, Metrix, for two very substantial contracts that are scheduled to be awarded by the MoD for very extensive and comprehensive training of military personnel. The award of the MoD's contracts form a key stage in the MoD's revue of the UK's defence related training (DTR).
The Assembly intends to develop the remainder of the airfield as an AerospacePark i.e. a business park for aviation-related employment.
To-date, regular and frequent meetings have been held with the local highway and planning authorities representatives and an assessment of anticipated traffic movements has informed a development brief for the proposals which has been adopted by the local planning authority. The development brief shows that the prime access to the DRY development and /or the Aerospace Park will be achieved by the construction of a road linking the site to the eastern-end of the Llantwit Major Bypass, north of Boverton, but also linking to Cowbridge Road north of St Athan. The latter link is necessary to replace a highway-link/bus route which currently passes through the north of the airfield. Further off-site highway-improvements are required to mitigate the effects of the development, viz. the improvement of highway geometry of the B4265 at the St Athan war-memorial and at Gileston Old Mill, approximately 1 km east of St Athan, plus capacity improvements at the A4226 Waycock Cross Roundabout.An environmental assessment of the preferred route of the prime access was undertaken by White Young Green, together with the relevant environmental surveys required to prepare an Environmental Station which gives due consideration to the sensitive issues along the route.The EA continues to be refined as the design of the route is also being refined, in particular at its eastern extremity where options continue to be assessed. A full topographical aerial-survey was completed and a ground model developed, enabling the highway alignment to be accurately designed.A preliminary ground investigation was also carried out along the preferred route, enabling the engineering properties of the ground to be determined.
The design development of the route has included discussions with many interested parties to address their concerns with appropriate consideration of the scheme’s objectives:
The current approved design drawings, calculations and other relevant criteria are available electronically from Alan Davies of Capita [email Alan.Davies@capita.co.uk]. All tenderers must make themselves familiar with the these documents and, if awarded the commission, must accept them as the basis of their further refinement and development of the proposals.
To provide sufficient information to achieve planning permission and contractual contracts for the construction and adoption of the prime access and related highway improvements for the redevelopment of RAF St Athan in accord with the development brief adopted by the local planning authority.
OBJECTIVES OF THE COMMISSION
(i) WAG wishes to complete an integrated team to develop and finalise the design of the scheme’s components in sufficient detail to draft the necessary compulsory-purchase order(s) and achieve a planning application by early January 2007.
(ii) The granting of a suitable and acceptable planning permission for the northern access road to/from the Llantwit Major ByPass from/to Cowbridge Road north of St Athan.
(iii) The granting of a suitable and acceptable planning permission for improvements to the B4265 at the St Athan war-memorial and at Gileston Old Mill plus the A4266 Waycock Cross Roundabout.
(iv) The creation of tender documents, including a sufficiently detailed design, for a design & build contract to provide the works to a standard that is acceptable and adoptable by the local highway authority. Details of the model form of the required terms & conditions of the design & build contract are available from Mr Jeff Perren, whose contact details are described above.
TASKS
Clearly the tasks that are necessary to achieve such broad objectives are many and varied. Each tenderer is required to provide and price his Activity Schedule and included it in Envelope B. The Activity Schedule must include the following subjects, subdivided & priced as the tenderer deems appropriate.
Perform a Stage 1 Safety audit of the designs produced to-date by Capita. Copies of the designs (including traffic & drainage capacities calculations) are attached.
Complete the designs in sufficient detail and/to produce a planning submission acceptable to the local highway authority, local planning authority and all other relevant authorities, including the Environment Agency.
Any land required is likely to be acquired through a Compulsory Purchase Order.The statutory procedures to be followed shall be concurrent, in which case the Side Roads Orders and Compulsory Purchase Orders shall be prepared as nearly concurrently as possible.The Orders shall be published in draft and subsequently processed simultaneously.The Consultant may be requested to assist the Employer with this work.
Complete the designs in sufficient detail for the letting of a competition, by lump-sum tender, for the detailed design & construction of the highway works, including necessary ancillary works (e.g. drainage), of the prime access, described above, and the further off-site highway-improvements that are required to mitigate the effects of the development , viz. the improvement of highway geometry of the B4265 at the St Athan war-memorial and at Gileston Old Mill, plus capacity improvements at the A4226 Waycock Cross Roundabout.
Following the acceptance of the commissionthe Consultant shall be required to attend weekly progress meetings with the client, WAG at Cardiff, Treforest or St Athan.The minimum attendance at these meetings shall be key staff appropriate to the stage of the design. The first meeting shall be held within five working days following WAG's issue of the award of the commission.There will be a standard agenda for the meetings prepared by the Employer. The Consultant shall also be required to attend additional meetings as required by/with WAG to discuss any matter relating to the project.The Consultant shall take the minutes of these meetings and distribute them promptly after the meeting.
The Consultant shall assist the Employer with various Public Relations initiatives.
Unless agreed otherwise all contact with the media will be via the Employer.
INFORMATION REQUIRED TO BE PROVIDED IN THE TENDER
i) Your tender must describe your understanding of the commission and your abilities, with recent relevant experience in the production of such works as described in the brief below. Ideally you will be able to provide the locations in the UK of constructed examples of similar works that you have designed.
ii) You must identify the resources and skills you would make available to perform the commission, with a breakdown of the time allocated for tasks and who would be involved. The breakdown must include your estimate of your staff’s attendance at a reasonable number of meetings with the Agency, the local authority and other relevant bodies. You must identify and provide CVs for each of the persons who would be involved. You must describe their professional experience and location(s) from where their services would be provided.
iii) You must provide a list of relevant, recently completed contracts.
iv) You must supply confirmation that you hold appropriate indemnity cover and public liability cover, both of at least as defined in the attached ‘Contract Data’.
v) You must confirm your quality procedures, health & safety and environmental policies.
vi) You must provide an activity schedule and programme of those activities, dividing the commission into stages including, as separate stages, all of the tasks described above.
vii) You must confirm that all necessary services to achieve the aims & objectives of the commission, as described above, are included in your activity schedule. Clarify what additional services, if any, you expect others, outside the commission, to provide to achieve all authorisations and permissions for the construction and adoption of the works.
viii) You must provide lump sum prices for each of the activities. The lump sums must be inclusive of all expenses & disbursements and be valid for the next six months plus the programmed period of the commission.
ix) You must provide the calculation of the total of the lump sum prices.
x) You must provide staff rates you would charge for changes to the Scope of the contract, to assist in the calculation of the value of compensation events. The rates must be valid for the next six months plus the programmed period of the commission.
TENDER PROCEDURE
Place the total of your lump sum prices into ‘Envelope A’ and the remaining information, containing no more than ten pages of text, into ‘Envelope B’. Seal both envelopes and place them into ‘Envelope C’. Seal ‘Envelope C’ and return it to the Agency’s Secretary, at the Welsh Development Agency address on it, by 12 noon on Wednesday, 18th December 2002.
N.B. No marks, including mail franking or other delivery system marks, which could identify the sender must be visible on that envelope (C) or anything that contains it.
TENDER ASSESSMENT
1. Tenders will be assessed on the basis of both quality and price.The contract will be awarded to the tenderer submitting the most economically advantageous offer assessed on the basis of quality, and price proposals for the entire scheme.The first assessment will be for quality.
2. All tenders that comply with the quality requirements will be financially assessed.An appraisal of the rates and percentages submitted will be undertaken.Any anomalies in the submitted rates or percentages will be drawn to the attention of the financial panel, which may ask the tenderers to explain any such anomalies.
3. The final assessment of the tenders will be based on an aggregated score for quality and price requirements as detailed below.The ratio of quality to price will be 80:20.
4. WAG reserves the right not to award the contract to the tenderer with the highest score if the panel concludes this will put the WAG at undue financial, operational or legal risk.
Table 1 Tender Score Criteria
Criteria
Marks
A
Very high standard with detailed understanding of the project aims and no reservations about acceptability
10
B
High standard but falls just short of A
9-8
C
Good standard and requirements met, but with some reservations
7-5
D
Acceptable with significant reservations but not sufficient to warrant rejection
4-1
E
Fails to meet requirements
0
Peter Cotton
Senior Engineering Manager
Department for Enterprise, Innovation and Networks/Yr Adran Menter, Arloesi a Rhwydweithiau
Welsh Assembly Goverment/Llywodraeth Cynulliad Cymru
Q: How much WAG/DEIN staff time and at what cost has been dedicated to promoting the development of the St Athan site as a major centre of excellence in the ...
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Ministers and Civil servants on the PFI gravy train online only
Alan Milburn, Health Secretary from 1998 to 2003
Alan Milburn is listed in his declaration of members’ interests at the House of Commons as a director of Covidien, which describes itself as “a $10bn global healthcare products leader”. He is also a member of Lloydspharmacy’s Healthcare Advisory Panel. Milburn is an advisor to the European advisory panel of leading private equity firm Bridgepoint, which specialises in healthcare investments. Milburn declares his income from these senior appointments as over £30,000 a year from Bridgepoint; over £25,000 from Lloydspharmacy; nothing listed for Covidien; and a further over £20,000 as an advisor to Pepsico.
Charles Clarke Education Secretary from 2002 to 2004 Home Secretary from 2004 to 2006
Charles Clarke a non-executive director of the LJ Group, which supplies teaching materials and equipment to schools and training services, including through the Government Building Schools for the Future programme, which Clarke initiated as education and skills secretary in February 2004. Clarke is a consultant to KPMG on public sector reform, for whom he wrote a booklet promoting the use of co-payments – service user contributions – to the NHS and other public services.
He also advises Charles Street Securities investment bankers/private equity fund managers. In addition, Clarke is a consultant to Beachcroft LLP, a legal firm that specialises in advising PFI/PPP deals.
Beachcroft has advised Inteq - a John Laing and Interserve consortium chosen by the MoD to provide a new office and accommodation complex at Corsham in Wiltshire - on the financial close of a £690 million PFI project.
Patricia Hewitt Health Secretary from 2005 to 2007
Patricia Hewitt is now senior adviser to Cinven, a private equity-backed private hospitals and healthcare group (payment, over £55,000 pa). She is also special consultant (payment over £45,000 pa) to AllianceBoots, which is owned by private equity firm KKR. In addition, Hewitt is a director of BT Group, which is providingbusiness outsourcing, IT and telecoms services to a range of public bodies. Hewitt established the telecoms and media regulator Ofcom in an earlier job as secretary of state for trade and industry and was in charge of the National Programme for IT – in which BT won one of the largest contracts – while secretary of state for health. According to BT’s submission of details to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Hewitt will be paid an initial £60,000, but with an expected increase as she takes on more responsibilities, in return for working at least 22 days a year.
David Blunkett Home Secretary from 2001 to 2004 Education Secretary from 1997 to 2001 and Work and Pensions secretary in 2005
David Blunkett is now an advisor on business development to A4e Ltd, for which he is entitled to be paid at least £25,000 a year, but which (according tohis Parliamentary declaration of interests) he has not yet been paid. A4e describes itself as a “market leader in global public service reform”.
Lord Warner Health Minister from 2003 to 2007
Lord Warner had specific responsibility for reform of the NHS – overseeing the introduction of more private sector involvement. Since he stepped down from that role he has taken on a directorship with UK HealthGateway and is chairman of the Government Sector Advisory Panel for Xansa plc – a leading provider of business outsource services to public bodies and holder of the £1bn NHS’s shared business service centre contract, providing accounting and finance services to the NHS. Lord Warner is also an advisor to Byotrol (a provider of micro biological health treatments), Apax Partners Worldwide (a private equity firm, with strong connections to the Government and which has invested heavily in health providers seeking contracts with the NHS), Deloitte (an accountancy and consultancy firm, with large incomes from government agencies) and DLA Piper (a legal firm, which, like Deloitte, specialises in advising on private contracting to the public sector). Lord Warner remains influential within the NHS as chair of the NHS London Provider Agency.
Hilary Armstrong secretary of state for local government from 1997 to 2001 for the Cabinet Office from 2006 to 2007
Hilary Armstrong has recently taken a position as chair of wastecompany SITA’s advisory committee.
Nick Raynsford a Local Government and Housing minister from 1997 to 2005
Nick Raynsford is now non-executive chairman of local authority recruitment agency Rockpools PLC and of Hometrack, a lettings service.
Ian McCartney Trade Minister from 1997 to 1999 and again from 2006 to 2007
Ian McCartney is a senior adviser to the US Fluor Corporation,an energy contractor that is believed to have ambitions to win nuclear clean-up contracts in the UK. McCartney is paid at least £110,000 a year for his advice. The former Department of Trade and Industry had responsibility for energy policy.
It also revealed a large body of mercenaries operating throughout Iraq. ...Fluor, won a $1.1 billion (£617 million) deal last month to help restore Iraq’s ... www.wsws.org/articles/2004/may2004/merc-m05.shtml
Stephen Byers Trade and industry secretary from 1998 to 2001
Stephen Byers is now non-executive chairman of water treatment company ACWA and Ritz Climate Offset Company.
Richard Caborn Trade minister from 1999 to 2001
Richard Caborn is now a consultant to AMEC assisting them with their work in the nuclear industry. His payment for this is at least £70,000 a year. He is also a former sports minister and now a consultant to the Fitness Industry Association, for which he is paid at least £10,000 a year.
Brian Wilson Energy minister from 2001 to 2003
Brian Wilson is now a non-executive director of AMEC Nuclear and is UK chairman of the renewables company, Airtricity.
Stephen Ladyman transport minister from 2005 to 2007
Stephen Ladyman is now an adviser to It is Holdings, a company selling traffic information, for which he is paid at least £10,000 a year.
Frank Field welfare reform minister from 1997 to 1998
Frank Field is now a director of Medicash, which operates a healthcare cash plan.
Sir Michael Barber former head of the Prime Minister’s Delivery Unit
Michael Barber oversaw publicsector reforms in health, education, transport, policing, the criminal justice system and asylum/immigration. He is now the expert partner in consulting firm McKinsey’s Global Public Sector Practice.
Baroness Sally Morgan
Sally Morgan was a close aide to Tony Blair when he was Prime Minister and she was director of government relations in Downing Street and subsequently was made a minister and a member of the House of Lords. She is now a director of the largest care home operator in the UK, Southern Cross, which has expanded substantially as a result of government reforms to the structure and funding of social care. She is a member of the advisory panel of Lloyds Pharmacy, which is expected to bid for contracts under the Department of Health's £1.25bn
Alternative Provider Medical Services programme. Morgan is also a director of Carphone Warehouse.
Sir Gerry Loughran
Sir Gerry Loughran was head of the Northern Ireland civil service from 2000 to 2002. After retiring he took on a number of private sector directorships. These included Phoenix Natural Gas, which is owned by the Terra Firma private equity firm, and he soon became
chairman upon joining the board. While a senior civil servant, Loughran chaired the Strategy 2010 project,57 to sell and leaseback the civil service property portfolio. After leaving the civil service, Loughran became a director and chairman of Partenaire, where he led the company’s (unsuccessful) bid to win the £2bn Workplace 2010 contract that resulted from Strategy 2010.
Lord Wilson of Dinton
Lord Wilson of Dinton was, as Sir Richard Wilson, head of the Home Civil Service and secretary to the Cabinet – as such he had the overall responsibility for seeing that the Prime Minister’s policies on public sector reform were carried out. He was afterwards appointed a director of Xansa (now part of the Steria group), one of the main providers of business process outsourcing services to the public sector.
Lord Turnbull
Lord Wilson’s successor as head of the Home Civil Service was Sir Andrew Turnbull, now Lord Turnbull. Lord Turnbull’s current directorships include British Land (active in the PFI/PPP market), Prudential (also active in the market) and Frontier Economics (which advises private sector clients on public sector reform). Turnbull is also chairman of Brevan Howard Global, an investment management company.
Sir Peter Gershon
Sir Peter Gershon was brought in by The Treasury in 1998 to reduce government expenditure and improve efficiency – he conducted a series of reviews in the period to 2004. He became a civil servant in 2000 as founding chief executive of the Office of Government Commerce. Sir Peter is now executive chairman of Vertex, one of the largest suppliers of business outsourcing services to the UK public sector. He is also non-executive chairman of the General Healthcare Group, the largest private healthcare group in the UK – owned by the private equity group Apax Partners and the South African healthcare company Netcare, which has ISTC and other supply contracts with the NHS. In August 2008 Sir Peter completed a review of ICT procurement policy for the Australian government.58
Chris Woodhead
Following his period as chief inspector of schools, Chris Woodhead set-up the Cognita group of independent schools, using funds supplied by a private equity firm, Englefield Capital.
Sir Steve Robson
Sir Steve Robson was one of the most controversial senior civil servants of recent years, who oversaw the privatisation of British Rail on behalf of Sir John Major. Robson went on to become second permanent secretary at HM Treasury until he retired in 2001. During his earlier career, he was seconded to 3i while remaining a civil servant. He oversaw the Government’s policy on PPPs while serving the current Government at the Treasury. Since retiring, Sir Steve has been a director at Partnerships UK, JP Morgan Cazenove (a global
bank), Xstrata (a mining group) and the Royal Bank of Scotland (one of the leading investors in PPPs) and is a member of the Chairman’s Advisory Committee at the accountancy and consultancy firm KPMG (a leading adviser to PPP and PFI schemes).
Simon Stevens
Simon Stevens was Tony Blair’s health advisor within 10 Downing Street and, with Alan Milburn, was the key architect of the NHS reform programme. He is now chairman of UnitedHealth UK, which has won contracts with the NHS to manage and advise primary
care trusts. The company’s executive director, previously chief executive, was, until late 2007, Dr Richard Smith, a former editor of the British Medical Journal. He is now working for UnitedHealth in the US.
Tom Granatir
Another US-based healthcare group with serious aspirations in the UK is Humana Europe. Its director of policy and research in the UK is Tom Granatir, who was seconded for six months to the NHS in its Health Inequalities Unit and was then seconded on a separate assignment with the influential health think-tank, the King’s Fund.
Darren Murphy
Darren Murphy was a special advisor to Prime Minister Tony Blair from May 1997 to September 2005. After a period as head of government relations and external affairs for AstraZeneca UK Murphy became managing director at the London office of lobbying firm APCO whose clients include most of the private healthcare firms bidding to run Independent Sector Treatment Centres.
Adam Ingrams
Former long serving armed forces minister Adam Ingrams appointment as £50,000 a year consultant EDS, is just reward for 6 years at the MoD helping booster the firms buisiness.
ED's notable successes in recent years include a £250m contract to take the forces payroll (with predictably disasterous results so far) membershiop of the Metrix consortium negotiating a £12bn (and rising) PFI deal to privatise military training and a 4bn contract won in 2004 to overhaul all military and civilian defence IT......
The battle for the presidency of Plaid Cymru kicks off with the party’s three MPs leading the charge to dislodge Dafydd Iwan from the post. Dr Iwan, a keen advocate of Welsh Independence, will face a challenge from Plaid’s leader at Westminster, Elfyn Llwyd.
I am puzzled by the support of SCOTTISH First Minister Alex Salmond for Elfyn Llwyd’s. Mr Llwyd said the party “needed to be singing from the same hymn sheet”, suggesting there were differences between MPs and the presidency over the St Athan military base in the Vale of Glamorgan – supported by Plaid MPs but opposed by the party’s presidency.
Does Alex Salmond support the government policy made in Westminster to privatise military training? Would he support a policy which would hinder the future Independence of Scotland, I don't think so. I would be surprised that anyone who wants more independence for their country would submit willingly to a policy of intense militarisation and happily welcome the prospect of a regime like Burma for instance, on paying the right fees, get its soldiers trained here. Would Alex Salmond agree with the MoD that the training of private contractors and foreign armies is actually about making a stable world for our children’s children? Private Eye (no 1213) reports a confidential “post meeting readout” of deliberations, on the St Athan project, led by deputy chief of defence staff (personnel) Vice Admiral Peter Wilkinson exposes “major AFFORDABILITY issues” requiring a “realistic contingency plan”
Hinting at serious difficulties on the deal, the “affordability gap” could not be disclosed even to the project board as it was too “sensitive”. More alarming still was a list of 15 significant risks with the project, training that fails to meet requirement of operational commands and is not of a sufficiently high standard.
Existing defence trainers appear unwilling to move to a new defence academy at St Athan, south Wales, from their existing bases (72% have said they won’t)
Certain risks are deemed “intolerable”. The scheme depends on missing millions from the sale of sites at Arborfield and Bordon where if planning permission for housing isn’t obtained soon, sites will be much less valuable, “impacting on the affordability of the project as a whole”.
New government accounting rules are due to bring PFI investments on balance sheet leaving the deal losing its off balance sheet PFI magic. The consequence of this would be to make the project unaffordable.
I wrote to Elfyn Llwyd and in Feb this year he replied rather unsatisfactorily; "Plaid Cymru recently debated St Athan in the context of its Defence Policy at National Council. After a very interesting and detailed debate it was decided that this would be a constituent of a conventional defence policy. My personal view is that, although Plaid is not a pacifist party many Plaid members hold that view. I am not a pacifist as such and believe that Wales should play its full part in defending as opposed to conducting any aggressive military policy." http://stathanmilitaryacademypoliticians.blogspot.com/search?q=+Elfyn+Llwyd%2C+
He hasn’t raised this matter in parliament. He hasn’t raised any of the issues above despite him claim that he is anti privatisation at least.
Best quote ever from House of Commons questioning of civil servants involved in Quinetiq sale. MP Richard Bacon: "MR WOOLEY ARE YOU A CHARTERED ACCOUNTANT ? "Woolley: "I AM NOT" Bacon: "ARE YOU A QUALIFIED FINANCIAL PERSON OF ANY KIND ? DO YOU HAVE ANY FINANCIAL QUALIFICATIONS ?" Woolley: "I DO NOT HAVE ANY FINANCIAL QUALIFICATIONS" Bacon: "WHAT IS YOUR JOB ?" Woolley: "I AM THE FINANCE DIRECTOR OF THE MOD"
Rhodri Morgan - Don’t worry about Plaid Daily Post, UK - 18 Feb 2008 He criticised Plaid vice president and MEP Jill Evans for attacking the proposed multi-million pounds Defence Training Academy in St Athan, south Wales, ...So who is Rhodri listening to?
Disclosure log 1678 13/06/08 A request has been made for information relating to the Metrix consortium DefenceTrainingAcademy at St Athan
Disclosure log 1637 10/03/08 A request has been recieved for information relating to the Welsh Assembly Government’s involvement with the DefenceTrainingAcademy project at St Athan
Disclosure log 1396 11/07/07 A member of the has requested information relating to the CardiffAirport link road
Disclosure log 893 03/09/06 A member of the public has requested information regarding further planned investment at the RAF St Athan site
Disclosure log - 516 16/01/06 A member of the public has requested information and correspondence regarding the make up of Team Wales and the names of those present at the launch of the Metrix bid that took place in London on the 20th of March ’06.
