beleaguered PFI - DTR -

A privatisation too far!
from Private Eye

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 ...

NAO -St Athan unaffordable

NAO acknowledges DTR cost problems

The Defence Training Review (DTR) continues to face an uphill struggle to reach a finalised contract after a leaked memo from the NAO confirmed that costs and delays were continuing to increase.

The DTR is designed to consolidate training for armed forces personnel into one location, much of it conducted by private trainers rather than civilian personnel. In 2007 the Metrix consortium which is leading package 1 estimated that the costs would be £11bn.

Up until now the NAO has not weighed in on the DTR since the project was in contractual negotiations and therefore not on the government’s balance sheet. But in a letter to MP Mark Pritchard who’s constituency covers one of the training bases designated for closure if the DTR comes to fruition in St Athan, Wales, the NAO admitted that Package 1 of the contract was now unaffordable.

The provisional contract was awarded to Metrix in January 2008 but by May it had already encountered severe financial problems. According to the NAO’s letter, Metrix submitted a revised proposal in September that was less dependent on raising revenue through the sales of MoD land. If the proposal is accepted, the contract could reach financial close at some point i n 2010, two years after it was first awarded to Metrix.

The training centre was scheduled to be opened by in 2013 but with delays the contract the centre's operational date may be pushed back further.

NAO officials acknowledged that the cost of the programme had now risen to £12bn. However according to a freedom of information request provided to the PCS Union, the initial cost of the programme was £10bn not £11bn, meaning that costs have already risen by £2bn in less than three years.

No retreat

FROM PRIVATE EYE Latest! 14-27 Nov 2008 1223
The Ministry of Defence is increasingly desperate to save its faltering plan to privatise military training at a new defence academy at St Athan, SouthWales, despite having acknowledged that the £12bn PFI deal is unaffordable and poses rishs to the frontline (see Eye 1213)

With the credit crunch also having put costs up by £1bn, something has to give. So when defence minister Bob Ainsworth announced that the MOD was ploughing ahead, he pointed out that "considerable progress had been made in driving down costs". This will involve cutting the length of training courses by 25% through "compression, rationalisation and harmonisation". Officially that means cutting waste but those involved in defence training say there is nothing like the scope for 25 percent cuts.

So defence training will have to suffer to spare the PFI deal, even though the off-balance sheet allure of PFI - which defence ministers admitted was the reason for a PFI in the first place - has vanished as all PFIs are going back on the books.Could it be because the deal is so crucial to the companies lining up for it? Qinetiq, the defence research company privatised by the MOD but on which it remains reliant, admits in its 2008 accounts: "There is a risk that the MoD may materially change the final scope or delay or cancel the implementation of the programme, which would have a significant effect on the expected future growth of the group".

Other firms have already got their snouts in the trough. The programme has cost £35 million so far, of which £12m has gone in consultancy. The biggest earner, predictably, is PwC which has received almost £1m a year for advising the MoD. With the plan already well delayed, the MoD's commercial director, Amyas Morse, who joined from PwC in 2006, will be signing in its cheques for a while yet.

Defence Training Review Programme HOC

You're paying!! No matter what it costs!

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.

Pity he couldn't explain that!

PFI dying

Ministers insist £12 billion defence training PFI not dead
Public Private Finance - London,UK
The cost of the Defence Training Review has risen from £11 billion to £12 billion, and the deal has been hit by rising construction inflation and problems ...

wishful thinking!

EDS one of the metrix consortium messes up big time AGAIN!!!

Our interview with MoD over EDS missing hard drive ComputerWeekly.com - UK A Ministry of Defence official says it is investigating with its contractor EDS whether a 1TB portable hard drive, which went missing from EDS's secure ...

St Athan PFI Decision made in London

Not a single politican from WAG is challenging the UK government ability to have this sort of power over Wales - to make this decision for Wales?

Q. Did the 'Wales Office' not have to approve the St Athan PFI?

Paul Murphy : Written Answers - Wales: Departmental Private Finance Initiative (3 Mar 2008)
The Wales Office has not initiated or approved any private finance initiative projects in the last three years.http://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2008-03-03a.190810.h&s=speaker%3A10454#g190810.r0

A. Its not a Welsh PFI. Remember that MC3 package 1 solution was based around Bordon and Cosford and Portsmouth. It was instigated by Mod with Ministerial backing. However the Welsh politicians did help Metrix win the bid by hard lobbying and the WDA provided human resources to METRIX.

Sodexho = Low Paid Low Skill Jobs

Sodexho Coporate Crimes ...A change in name is launched from Sodexho to Sodexo as part of the global brand evolution. Find out more about Sodexo's name change .

Sodexo history

Sodexos senior manager - Simon Scrivens Managing Director of Tillery Valley Foods (TVF) Joined Sodexo 2007 -Responsible for Tillery Valley Foods - the leading supplier of chilled and frozen prepared meals to the healthcare sector.

What Sodexho say ...Sodexho Defence Services investing in its unique HUB brand, specifically designed to offer high street facilities that meet the needs of both service personnel and their families within the barracks. It brings eating, drinking, shopping and leisure together in one place at lower than high street prices. Not likely to provide much work for local farmers then?

Sodexho wins major London defence contract

A change in name is launched from Sodexho to Sodexo as part of the global brand evolution.

Sodexo is committed to the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) and in developing Public Private Partnerships (PPP), both as an FM services provider and as an equity investor.

Tony Leech Managing Director of Kalyx Joined Sodexo 2003 Responsible for the Corrections Business in the UK & Ireland.

they do 'cleaning' too ..they call it .....Our cleaning offer is called “essence” and is tailored to specific client needs in different environments within both the public and private sectors....

SODEXHO - LOW PAY - PAY DISPUTES - LOW SKILL JOBS

workers low pay

Scottish Socialist Party - News - Support Sodexho Workers

A Message from North Glasgow Hospitals Branch, Unison. To all friends and supporters, 300 staff employed by private contractor Sodexho at Glasgow Royal ... www.scottishsocialistparty.org/news/hospitals.html - 6k -

SODEXHO What do unison have to say? Basically that they are rubbish.
Wiltshire County Council is scrapping its Sodexho meals-on-wheels service and replacing it with a new and different type of service. The council is terminating the contract ten months early and introducing a service based on bulk deliveries of frozen food which the clients would have to heat themselves. Thirty Sodexho staff face redundancy.
Employees of Sodexho, working on a meals-on-wheels contract with Cheshire County Council, are battling bosses who are trying to cut their working hours by one hour each day, or by 20%. Cheshire County Council said: "The company has assured us that the service it provides on our behalf, delivering 20,000 hot meals every month to 1000 older people across Cheshire, would be unaffected by any changes."

[PDF] Who is Sodexho?

File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML problems with the contractor and brought management of food services back in house. Recently, B.C.’s Northern Health Authority hired Sodexho to consult on ... www.labournet.net/world/0209/sodprofile.pdf -

[PDF]

BSG template

File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML UNISON has a national agreement with Sodexho Ltd, but the problems of health ... SODEXHO PROBLEM CONTRACTS. Cleaning contract at South Glasgow University ... www.unison.org.uk/acrobat/B828.pdf - Similar pages - Note this

Students upset with Sodexho - News

He can relate to every problem he has heard dealing with Sodexho. "The selection is pretty bad, ... "Yep, the RHC has real big problems with Sodexho." ... www.unews.com/news/2005/04/25/News/Students.Upset.With.Sodexho-936998.shtml - 37k

Racial problems with Sodexho

If only this employee would have responded in a positive way, in which the Sodexho mission exemplifies, there would be no problem. But there is a problem. ... www.morris.umn.edu/register/article.php?volume=16&issue=9&section=opinion&index=1 - 12k -

http://www.eyeonsodexho.org/index.html

Metrix Consortium under threat

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 ...