Campaign to oppose a privatised military academy for St Athan - biggest PFI/PPP ever, with arms dealers Raytheon Serco. John Pilger "a British "School of the Americas" is to be built in Wales, where British soldiers will train killers from all corners of the American empire in the name of "global security". Tony Benn “The thought of privatising the training for the Armed forces was morally abominable”
Showing posts with label Land Securities Trillium. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Land Securities Trillium. Show all posts
By Karl West Last updated at 10:28 PM on 23rd February 2009
Rarely has the future training of Britain's armed forces been so important. Fighting on two fronts in Iraq and Afghanistan, is this really the right time to outsource to a profit-making consortium?
This vexed question is all the more contentious when one of the main partners in this group - Metrix - is the controversial French catering group Sodexo.
The company took its place as one of the two equity partners earlier this month alongside QinetiQ (down 4¼p at 137p), the equally controversial defence research company.
Sodexo replaced property giant Land Securities, which quit the consortium in December citing the soaring cost of the £12billion contract, known as the Defence Training Review.
Sodexo is not widely known in the UK, but serious questions remain about its suitability to help run such a strategically important contract.
Only a few years ago it was dragged through the US courts by thousands of its own African-American staff, who claimed they had been discriminated against on the basis of their race.
The company fought the legal action, which claimed it systematically denied promotions to 3,400 black mid-level managers, but in 2005 agreed to settle for $80million.
Sodexo has also made headlines over the quality and preparation of its food. The 2004 film Super Size Me slammed its policies on child nutrition in US schools, where it supplies catering services.
In Britain, a 2004 Channel 4 documentary exposed the unhygienic preparation of food by Tillery Valley Foods, one of its subsidiaries.
Sodexo has also come under fire in Britain for its management of the Harmondsworth Detention Centre, which is home to many asylum seekers.
In 2006, Anne Owers, HM Inspector of Prisons, criticised the company for allowing Harmondsworth to 'slip into a culture and approach which was wholly at odds with its stated purpose'.
She said this was 'essentially a problem of management'. The report followed two deaths at the centre in 2004.
A spokesman said: 'The allegations regarding TVF and Harmondsworth are over three years old and do not reflect how these establishments are run.'
The company was also accused of supplying catering at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba and the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. Although Sodexo is the preferred catering contractor of the US Marines, the companydenies having ever worked at either facility.
'We have never been involved with these contracts. We manage US marine bases only on US territory,' a spokesman insisted.
Aside from these concerns, there are also serious misgivings in the defence industry about whether Sodexo has the capability to plug the gap left by Land Securities.
Sodexo said it was 'confident' it has the relevant expertise for the project, pointing out it is involved in 17 private finance projects and manages a range of services.
This includes taking responsibility for over 130 buildings at Colchester Garrison in Essex.
The key to Metrix's DTR plan is to slash the number of MoD training bases from 30 sites to about ten, with a main campus at RAF St Athan in South Wales, former home of the Vulcan bomber.
It had planned to keep the cost of the project in check by offloading the unwanted MoD sites to commercial property developers.
But since being appointed preferred bidder in January 2007, the value of land has plummeted and debt costs have soared.
As a result, the cost of delivering Metrix's plans have risen by £1billion to £12billion, making the government's biggest ever private finance deal look increasingly unviable.
As previously reported in the Daily Mail, the spiralling cost of the scheme has also attracted the attention of the National Audit Office, which has indicated it might probe the deal.
One industry source noted Sodexo's core competency, as a provider of 'soft' facilities management and catering, is completely different to the expertise in property development and estate management that Land Securities brought.
The source added: 'It suggests therefore that the MoD is going to take the risk on the land values dropping. It's all down to the taxpayer taking the risk.'
The MoD said the sale of surplus land is a 'long term process' and would not be affected by shortterm fluctuations in value. It added: 'The DTR... project is not dependent on funds raised through these (surplus land) disposals.'
While the bill for bailing out Britain's banks spirals ever higher, taxpayers can ill afford the additional financial burden.
And with the quality of soldier training on the line, the question of who runs this high profile contract might literally be one of life and death.
Land Securities was to convert a "super-hangar" at St Athan, South Wales, into a huge new defence academy for around £1bn, but it seems the credit crunch has put paid to it raising that kind of cash. Whether another property company - most of them struggling to raise money - steps forward looks uncertain. The problem with the private finance initiative is that although the profits are great, they come over a long period and not many firms are in the mood for splashing out and waiting for their cash. If the Ministry of Defence can't persuade another company in, the whole scheme could collapse.
Meanwhile the list of compromises on quality that will be made if the deal does go ahead lengthens by the week.
Tory MP for the Wrekin Mark Pritchard, whose constituency will lose out when aeronautical training moves from RAF Cosford to St Athan and who has described the scheme as "a privatisation too far", recently raised a host of concerns with the National Audit Office. Cherie's Place: Private Eye Reports on Land Trillium Departure By CherryPie They will understandably want to make a profit but why should Welsh taxpayers subsidise private organisations? The full article entitled 'Why Subsidise Private Profit' can be found here. More information on DTR from a Shropshire ...
Another wheel comes off the DTR wagon. Land Securities Trillium announce their exit from the METRiX consortium
Introduction
Things seem to be going from bad to worse for the DTR programme. Firstly, there was the withdrawal of preferred bidder status from METRiX for package 2, then there was the credit crunch that saw increasing costs to the tune of at least £1 billion, then the fall in land prices the sale of which the project is predicated upon, then a further shift to the right in terms of the date of contract signature, and now one of the main companies in METRiX- Land Securities Trillium has announced its withdrawal from the programme.
Land Securities Bail Out
On the 11th December the Financial Times carried an article that announced Land Securities Trillium was withdrawing from DTR package 1. Portsmouth South MP, Mike Hancock who sits on the Defence Select Committee said, “With Land Securities pulling out this must seriously damage the entire project. It was never financially viable.”
LST was one of the main pillars in the METRiX consortium responsible for the build programme. After putting £20 million into the project and seeing its potential profits being continually squeezed they announced they were withdrawing “in the light of the significantly increased bid costs, carried at risk by the bidders, required as the project moves into detailed design work.” Charles Barrington, METRiX CEO, tried to put a brave face on the catastrophic announcement claiming that Land Securities departure was for “strategic reasons.” He confidently maintained that METRIX would find a new building partner “within the month.” PCS therefore expects an announcement by Barrington by the 12th January in regards to the new company joining METRiX. However, PCS will not be holding its breathe…
Who Knew?
The first that PCS heard of the Land Securities withdrawal from METRiX was an article in the Financial Times! Indeed, this was the case for Members of Parliament too. Mark Pritchard, MP for the Wrekin, and staunch supporter of the PCS campaign, asked this very question in the House of Commons. He still awaits a reply.
PCS will be complaining about this failure by the MoD to advise the Trade Unions.
Relations between the Trade Unions and the Package 1 IPT have hit a new low because the Team Leader seems to be frustrated that PCS is exploiting possible leaks within his team and is using the Freedom of Information Act to make the MoD reveal information they'd rather not share at all. This is bad enough, but talking to the press appears to be the final straw.
The IPT Team Leader appears bemused by our long running campaign and wishes PCS would simply stop its work of defending public sector jobs and engage constructively with privatisation.
Qinetiq feels the shockwaves from Land Securities withdrawal
The Guardian reported on 19th December that Qinetiq has weakened after a sell note from UBS.
UBS said "In our view, QinetiQ is trading at a full valuation, yet we believe its outlook is clouded by a number of significant downside risks. We believe it will be very difficult for QinetiQ shares to re-rate until these concerns are addressed. We also believe consensus views on valuation and earnings are at risk of turning more negative."
In particular UBS is concerned about the recent departure of Clive Richardson, the head of the Europe, Middle East and Africa region; the withdrawal of Land Securities' Trillium division from a consortium including Qinetiq bidding for a £12bn MoD contract, as well as growing UK defence budget pressures.
The report concluded:
"We are lowering our price target primarily driven by the removal of the value we ascribed to the MoD's Defence Training Rationalisation contract following Trillium's withdrawal from the joint venture bid. We believe the risk
relating to the DTR contract is now too high to warrant a more positive stance."
St Athan- The Home of the DefenceTrainingAcademy, Can't Recruit IO's – You Couldn't Make This Up!
PCS has long maintained that IO's will not transfer across the country to St Athan, as a survey of members has borne out. The MoD whilst accepting this as its number 1 risk, bullishly maintained that its risk mitigation plan took this into account.
However, the military at St Athan have now been forced to admit that they cannot recruit and retain IO's at the site and have submitted a business case for Recruitment and Retention Allowance.
There are 63 band D IOs within the scope of No4 School of Technical Training (No 4 SOTT) which is a part of DCEME. There are currently 17 gapped posts (i.e. 28%) within the Training Operations Group.
In addition 8 IOs have left No 4 SOTT in the last 12 months- their reasons are:
Wishing to remain Civil Servants and not wanting to work for a METRiX company.
The Civil Service salary is uncompetitive.
Promotion within the Civil Service,
The Business plan notes:
“Even the fact the MOD St Athan has been chosen as the preferred site for DTR has had no significant positive impact on the ability to retain staff. Instead, recent departures have merely exacerbated the situation as remaining (civilian and military) are required to undertake additional work and thus they become disillusioned. It is anticipated that increased stress (and associated absence) and staff resignations are likely to increase as a direct consequence.”
Finally the business case warns that “morale of many of the civilian staff at No 4 SOTT is at a crucial juncture.”
It is a harbinger of the future disaster of DTR if MoD does not heed the advice of PCS and the evidence waived under its nose- Risk Mitigation Plan or not.
Geoff Nield Quits DTR Package 1 as End Date Moves Over the Horizon
At the last DTR IPT meeting with the Trade Unions Geoff Nield announced he will be leaving post by March 2009. Nield has pushed the project hard and is obviously frustrated at the slowness of progress being made and the intransigence of PCS in particular. With no end in sight, despite the propaganda contained in the IPT’s newsletter, Nield has decided to call it a day and move onto pastures new.
He will be replaced by Anthony Harkin who has been delivering the RSME privatisation at Chatham.
Tim Inshaw Visits IO Conference and Tells PCS How to Campaign
In November Major General Tim Inshaw, DTR Programme Director, attended the IO conference and spoke to delegates about DTR. Inshaw was forthright in his defence of the programme but admitted that if IOs didn’t transfer to the DefenceTrainingAcademy that it would be a disaster for military training. Clearly, by inference at least, he does not believe this is a real possibility.
In addressing conference delegates, Inshaw suggested that PCS’ campaign strategy is flawed. He was happy that PCS should tell the politicians and public that DTR was bad for Civil Servants personally, but he urged PCS not to insist that DTR is bad for defence. Inshaw advised conference that all the military top brass agreed that DTR was good for defence. However, when challenged on the ability of METRiX to deliver the contract without the existing IO cadre, he looked decidedly uneasy.
Tim Inshaw Denies PCS Request for Information on Risk Mitigation Plans
Inshaw was asked to make available to PCS the Risk Mitigation Plans for package 1. However, in a letter dated 25th November the General said, “I regret it is not possible to afford this opportunity at this stage of the Project…all change programmes have some risk attached to them…we have taken note of the views of SIOs and we have a comprehensive approach to managing these risks.”
This response is disappointing and PCS will now use the Freedom of Information Act to try to uncover the information MoD is so desperate to hide.
Qinetiq and Raytheon, Don't Seem to See Eye to Eye
There is always lots of chatter on projects such as DTR. Some of it turns out to be extremely prescient, other “information” just hearsay. However, it has been reported to PCS that all is not well between Qinetiq and Raytheon. There appears to be bad feeling between the two companies, with Raytheon believing its been marginalised by its partner. This does not seem to bode well for the future of the project where close working and harmony between training delivery and training support/course design is essential.
Some personnel working on DTR are impressed with Raytheon’s course design software, but not a lot else. They have posed the question why MoD can’t just buy under license this software without going down the privatisation route?
Does DTR Breach The Cabinet Office Protocols On Staff Being Transferred Into a Redundancy Situation?
PCS is currently liaising with its specialists in this field to ascertain whether DTR does indeed fall foul of the agreements on staff being TUPE’d into a redundancy situation.
PCS will communicate the outcome once it is known.
Conclusion
PCS continues to oppose DTR step by step. PCS will continue to campaign with you and for you. The New Year will herald the second anniversary of the preferred bidder for DTR. PCS will be planning to take part in a meeting to be held in the Welsh Assembly.
Qinetiq falls on concerns about defence outlook guardian.co.uk - UK We believe the risk relating to the DTR contract is now too high to warrant a more positive stance." The fall in Qinetiq has contributed to a 101.1 point ...
Qinetiq, the defence technology company originally spun out of the Ministry of Defence, has weakened after a sell note from UBS.
Its shares are down 9.75p at 152.5p as UBS downgraded from neutral, and cut its price target from 175p to 155p. Analyst Avi Hoddes said:
"In our view, QinetiQ is trading at a full valuation, yet we believe its outlook is clouded by a number of significant downside risks. We believe it will be very difficult for QinetiQ shares to re-rate until these concerns are addressed. We also believe consensus views on valuation and earnings are at risk of turning more negative."
In particular UBS is concerned about the recent departure of Clive Richardson, the head of the Europe, Middle East and Africa region; the withdrawal of Land Securities' Trillium division from a consortium including Qinetiq bidding for a £12bn MoD contract, as well as growing UK defence budget pressures.
Other possible probems cited by UBS include:
"The risky and lower-quality drivers of EMEA profit growth; the profit headwind once Iraq/Afghanistan winds down and other US budget uncertainties; weaker margin guidance; and) profit and valuation volatility caused by QinetiQ's pension deficit."
It concluded:
"We are lowering our price target primarily driven by the removal of the value we ascribed to the MoD's Defence Training Rationalisation contract following Trillium's withdrawal from the joint venture bid. We believe the risk relating to the DTR contract is now too high to warrant a more positive stance."
The fall in Qinetiq has contributed to a 101.1 point decline in the FTSE 250 to 6290.47. Meanwhile the FTSE 100 is now down 72.42 points at 4258.24, with the miners leading the fallers. Given the falls in the oil price despite Opec's production cuts and the continuing uncertainty over the fate of the US carmakers, not to mention the global recession, today's falls are not exactly a surprise. The Dow futures are suggesting a 68 point opening decline, as investors await news of any car industry bail out.
Land Secs retreats from £1billion MoD defence academy PFI Your Defence News (press release), UK -Dec 18, 2008 Land Securities Trillium (LST) has pulled out of a PFI deal to deliver the MoD’s £1bn Defence Technical Academy, after raising concerns about rising costs ...
Published Date: 15 December 2008 By Matt Jackson Defence correspondent
HOPES are rising that the under-threat HMS Sultan in Gosport could be offered a stay of execution.
Last year ministers announced the engineering school would be shut by 2017 with all training moving to St Athan, Wales. But now unions think 170 jobs in the area could be saved after a company in the project pulled out of the deal.
Land Securities Trillium, which has already invested more than £20m in the scheme, said the prospect of cost increases was the reason for it withdrawing from the £11bn scheme.
Geoff Lange, an instructor at HMS Collingwood and Portsmouth South branch secretary for the Public and Commercial Services Union, said: 'With Land Securities pulling out the development part of this plan has to be called into question.
'Workers could see the silver lining of this because it means the project planning will drag on, but I see it as confusing and worrying for them.
'They have wasted lots of public money on consultants and we need clarity about what is supposed to be happening.'
In July, The News reported that a leaked e-mail had revealed the project could be delayed for up to eight years. Metrix, the consortium behind the new training centre in St Athan, was said to be considering keeping Sultan open until 2025. If this falls through, the Ministry of Defence could be forced to retain training sites across Hampshire including Sultan, which is home to the Royal Naval Air Engineering and SurvivalSchool.
Portsmouth South MP Mike Hancock, who sits on the Defence Select Committee, said: 'With Land Securities pulling out this must seriously damage the entire project.
'It was never financially viable and this is great news for sites in our area. I would expect to see Sultan open for a good time to come.'
An MoD spokeswoman said there was 'no question whatsoever' about the future of the project, but added that nothing had been decided as to when Sultan would close.
She said: 'Changes in the consortium structure in a project of this scale are not unusual.
'Land Securities Trillium's withdrawal is a consequence of adjustment to their parent company's strategic priorities as a result of the current economic circumstances.
'The MOD, Metrix and QinetiQ are committed to delivering the project at St Athan, considerable progress has been made and the main project milestones remain in place.'
Metrix spokesman Christopher Moseley said: 'We are working very closely with the Ministry of Defence to deliver this on time.'
News reaches manchester too! Eco home plan bust too!
Just 1700 homes for Deepcut site? Get Surrey - Manchester 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. ..
And 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.
11 December 2008 : Parliamentary Debate Defence Training Review 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?
0A
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.
£12bn base ‘still on track’ who do you think you are kidding? WalesOnline - United Kingdom John Smith, in picture, MP for the Vale of Glamorgan, said: “The Defence Technical Academy at St Athan has not been knocked off course by this development. ...If Smith thinks he can turn the tide on this one he has lost it!...... A Land Securities spokesman said its Trillium arm was withdrawing "in the light of the significantly increased bid costs, carried at risk by the bidders, required as the project moves into detailed design work".
The Financial Times reports on the latest setback for the Defence Training Review:
On Wednesday, Qinetiq told the government that Land Securities had withdrawn from the process. Land Securities has spent about £20m so far and is reluctant to keep funding the project in the face of significantly increased costs over the next 18 months.
Qinetiq, the defence research group that is the lead contractor on the programme, is already in talks with alternative partners, although the move comes at a difficult time for the property market. There may also be reluctance to take on additional short-term costs just as property and construction companies struggle with a sharp fall in asset values over the past year.
The news is the latest blow to the controversial programme. There have already been concerns about the viability of the 25-year project after it emerged costs had risen by nearly 10 per cent since the beginning of last year.
The consortium had also been forced abandon its original plan to raise up to £1bn through a bond issue because of the difficulties in the financial markets.
This latest news from DTR is revealing that as predicted by PCS the programme is busy unravelling. Our meeting with Minister for the Armed Forces was cancelled at the last minute yesterday, but has been re-arranged for next Tuesday. We have even more questions to ask him following this announcement below.
Contractor quits defence academy deal
By Daniel Thomas and Sylvia Pfeifer
Published: December 10 2008 22:46 | Last updated: December 10 2008 22:46
The £12bn plan to centralise the UK military's training programme has suffered another setback following the withdrawal of the property company Land Securities from the consortium picked to take forward the project at the beginning of last year.
The Defence Training Review (DTR), the UK's largest private finance initiative, will centralise all non-military technical training for army, navy and air force personnel in one academy at St Athan, Vale of Glamorgan.
The government awarded the contract to build and run the new defence academy to the Metrix consortium, a joint venture between Qinetiq and Land Securities' outsourcing arm, Trillium.
On Wednesday, Qinetiq told the government that Land Securities had withdrawn from the process. Land Securities has spent about £20m so far and is reluctant to keep funding the project in the face of significantly increased costs over the next 18 months.
Qinetiq, the defence research group that is the lead contractor on the programme, is already in talks with alternative partners, although the move comes at a difficult time for the property market. There may also be reluctance to take on additional short-term costs just as property and construction companies struggle with a sharp fall in asset values over the past year.
The news is the latest blow to the controversial programme. There have already been concerns about the viability of the 25-year project after it emerged costs had risen by nearly 10 per cent since the beginning of last year.
The consortium had also been forced abandon its original plan to raise up to £1bn through a bond issue because of the difficulties in the financial markets.
On Wednesday night, Charles Barrington, the chairman of Metrix, said the consortium and the Ministry of Defence had been able to cut costs. That had been achieved in part by reducing the number of courses that will be offered.
He added that changes in a consortium's structure were not unusual as "circumstances and priorities change".
"Land Securities Trillium has taken this decision for strategic reasons and not because the DTR proposition is flawed," he added.
A Land Securities spokesman said its Trillium arm was withdrawing "in the light of the significantly increased bid costs, carried at risk by the bidders, required20as the project moves into detailed design work".
The construction programme is valued at an estimated £1bn and will create 1500 jobs. Financial close on the deal is now expected in 2010.
Land Securities remains in talks to sell Trillium to a rival outsourcing company, Telereal, although the continuing discussions are not thought to have prompted its withdrawal from the training programme.
Trillium was providing land acquisition, management and development advice to the consortium.
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 Timesit 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 have chosen to leak this information to the Financial Times rather than bring it to the Floor of the House?
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.
This is one of the Metrix consortium and the problem is that these companies change hands so one has no idea who could be running the business of the proposed military academy in a weeks time or in a few years time in Wales.
Yetr another director of a company making a fortune from government money. More sleazy directors with dodgy dealings while seeking contracts. I hope we can have assurances that none of the Metrix consortium companies have funded any labour party activities or councillors. but how much the WAG has paid out is not yet known.
Bidders Circling for Land Securities Trillium PPP Focus.com - Manchester,England,UK According to various press reports, private equity firms and Macquarie the Australian-based bank are pondering on bids for Land Securities Trillium. ...
Since the Land Securities announced a restructuring in November, it was believed that Trillium was being lined up for a flotation. Whilst source say this may still be the favoured option there are increasing reports that a number of bids are being considered to purchase the division outright.
Analysts have valued the business at between £1bn and £1.5bn. No official news has emerged from either Land Securities or Macquarie Bank and any potential bids are believed to be at a very early stage. See all stories on this topic
Pupils at a private finance initiative school were nearly left without a place to play sport or sit exams, after the contractor failed to adequately insure a sports hall that burned down.
Land Securities Trillium said its contract did not require it to provide alternative accommodation while the hall was being rebuilt at Woodside High in Haringey, north London.
But media pressure has forced the local council to provide some portacabins in the meantime.
"Generally PFI insurance does not cover for the provision of alternative accommodation,” a Trillium spokeswoman said, “because schools would end up paying more for that cover and the public sector does not deem this to be value for money."
Head teacher Joan McVittie replied that the existing insurance cover was “completely inappropriate for the needs of a school".
Land Securities Trillium to hive off its PFI arm , Raytheon may be thinking of pulling out and Qinitiq due to be slated by the audit office within days the Metrix Consortium is looking shaky.
Land Securities hives off PFI armPublic Private Finance - London Property firm Land Securities has announced plans to spin off its private finance initiative division, Trillium. The move is part of a plan to split the ... Two articles which we can't read ...are Defence training centre may ditch private finance ... News Article 01/11/2007..The second part of the £14 billion private finance initiative for a defence training centre at St Athan... Problems hit defence training PFI ...News Article 29/10/2007 Cost concerns mean that the second part of the £14 billion defence training scheme at St Athan in Wales.... Land Securities to split into three after slide in sharesIndependent - London,By Karen Attwood Land Securities, the UK's largest real estate investment trust (Reit), is to split into three separate quoted companies. ...
Land Securities pushes on with three-way split Telegraph.co.uk - The Land Securities name will be adopted by the London business and outsourcing will retain the Trillium brand, but retail will find a new name. ...
Split could be recipe for takeover at Land SecuritiesFinancial Times (subscription) - London,England,UKBy Jim Pickard Stephen Hester, chief executive of British Land, tried delicately not to criticise rival Land Securities – which has just confirmed plans for ...
In Planet magazine there is an email exchange between Stephen Thomas (Director of the Welsh Centre for International Affairs) and Sara Koopman, an academic who is an activist with the School of the Americas Watch, they exchange their experiences of campaigning against St Athan and School of the Amer...icas.
Campaign Objections to defence technical college here
State underwrites UK defence’s PFI project By Alex Barker, Political Correspondent
Published: February 25 2009 02:19 | Last updated: February 25 2009 02:19
Ministers have quietly offered contractors bigger state guarantees as a means of rescuing the £12bn ($17bn) private finance project to centralise the military’s training, the Financial Times has learnt.
See OU society matters article here Metrix shambles and OU here Should the OU be involved in the ARMS TRADE? here OU OU partnerships with armed forces? here Daily Mail - controversial £11bn contract to provide training to
Britain's armed forces is in danger of collapsing as a result of the credit crunch.herePlaid chief opposes St Athan Academy 6-Sep-08 hereWales must not be a cog in the war machine - Daily Post..here‘St Athan jobs dwindle while the costs rise’ here
Meet the mystery defense contractors that are raking in billions in taxpayer dollars without notice. Read more » "We recommend that people throughout the world launch nonviolent actions against US and UK corporations that directly profit from this war” - 7th Recommendation of the World Tribunal on Iraq, June 2005; http://www.worldtribunal.org/
What are the 'benefits' to the MOD of transferring risk to the private sector?
Derek Twigg MP, Under Secretary of State for Defence, talks to PSCA International's Matthew D'Arcy about what lies ahead in bringing a new flexible approach to learning through the Defence Training Review. “Partnership with the private sector does give us flexibility, and this is the key point here, to decrease or increase student throughput. The partner will be able to generate third party income from spare capacity and also dispose of surplus capacity. It also allows for a very important part of the role for industry to bring private sector management expertise and the ability to include significant capital investment at this stage. It is really about delivering a modern and flexible learning environment that will be fit for our service personnel of the future.” Facilities key to defence trainingThe PPP Journal Issue 56 - Thursday, April 12, 2007
Raytheon News
Raytheon Raytheon Tucson is a pretty awful place to work. If you're thinking about working there, you should think long and hard before you accept the offer. ... Raytheon Says 12 Private Wells Are Polluted Raytheon: Plume Is No ThreatTampa Tribune - USA.. environmental experts from Raytheon told a crowd of about 700 people in St. Petersburg on Friday that a toxic plume of chemicals that ...
Rhodri Morgan should be ashamed of himself for supporting raytheon with no supporting evidence
Ending Contractor Impunity see here The Center for Public Integrity, The Windfalls of War. Global Policy Forum. “State Sovereignty and Private Security Companies” webpage with documents, analyses, articles and links. Available here Human Rights Watch, Private Military Contractors and the Law. See here International Committee of the Red Cross, Privatisation of War section. See here Private Military Companies. See here War on Want, Getting Away with Murder. See here Sourcewatch. See here
News: Officials: Hundreds of Iraqis Killed By Faulty Grenades ..failure rates as high as 40 percent. Hundreds and possibly thousands of Iraqi civilians have been killed or maimed by outdated, defective U.S. cluster weapons that lack a safety feature other countries have added, according to observers, news reports and officials……… Britain, which joined the USA in the fight to oust Saddam Hussein, fired 2,000 artillery cluster weapons in the war. All were equipped with Israeli-made grenades with secondary fuses and a 2 percent dud rate, the British Defense Ministry said…….."The funding for R and D [research and development] in the Army was minimal, and fusing was the last on the list," said Bruce Mueller, a former Army lieutenant colonel who managed the fuse program for defense contractor Raytheon. "They develop weapons, then they develop munitions, and after they develop munitions, the last thing they worry about is how to fuse them."
Raytheon. The company makes the guidance systems for many of the missiles that are sold to Israel and that caused so much civilian death in the conflict, including the 51 people crushed to death in a bunker in Qana.
Download Corporate Mercenaries [pdf]: War on Want's report on PMSCs - Private Military and Security Companies - Corporate Mercenaries: The threat of private military and security companies…..Northrop Grumman and Raytheon are major arms contractors also selling PMSC services.
Clusterbombs - On April 1st an undetermined number of BLU-97/B submunitions hit Hilla, with reports claiming that at least 33 civilians were dead and around 300 injured.
America Cluster Bombs Iraq - UN Security Council - Global Policy Forum The missile is described by the Navy, its primary developer, and Raytheon Systems, its manufacturer, as a long-range glide bomb. Acting Pentagon spokesman ... www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/iraq/2001/0226cstr.htm - 14k -
Dozens of Iraqi dead after cluster bomb attack in Hilla Amnesty International has condemned the Hilla bombing and the US use of clusterbombs, saying that the use of cluster bombs against a civilian area of Hilla... www.ccmep.org/2003_articles/Iraq/040403_dozens_of_iraqi_dead_after_clust.htm - 14k -
The use of cluster bombs Human Rights Watch "U.S. Use of Clusters in Baghdad Condemned" 16 April 2003) The cluster bombs that were used in Hilla were identified by Landmine Action, ... www.informationclearinghouse.info/article3463.htm - 31k -
