Holding the Private Sector to Account or Holding Critics at Bay?

This post was originally published here on The Huffington Post on 30 July 2013, by one of our team, Sarah Cheverton.

Margaret Hodge, MP, chair of the UK government's public accounts committee, has confirmed reviews into the UK Border Agency's COMPASS contract and into private sector delivery of public services.

The news follows lobbying from housing social enterprise Kazuri over allegations of G4S's failures in managing the COMPASS contract for asylum seeker housing after the alleged eviction of three female asylum seekers.

Responding to Kazuri's allegations in a letter, Margaret Hodge said: "As you will know, the former UK Border Agency (now part of the Home Office) recently tendered for new asylum housing contracts, which began operating in May 2012, each covering a region of the UK.

"You raised a concern that asylum seekers have been evicted from properties because of rent arrears that had arisen because G4S's subcontractors were not paying landlords.

"I have forwarded your letter to the National Audit Office (NAO), as the issues you raise regarding asylum accommodation are of interest in the context of the NAO's work in this area.

"The NAO plans to look at COMPASS and the arrangements for asylum accommodation.

"This work will feed into a wider review which the NAO is undertaking looking at the delivery of public services by private sector contractors (including G4S) to support a Public Accounts Committee hearing with the contractors in the Autumn.

"I understand that the Home Office is aware of general concerns around the contracts in operation, although it was not aware of the specific details around G4S and rent arrears and will look into this further."

In a recent interview with the Guardian, Hodge countered the common criticism that select committees 'lack teeth', saying:

"The Institute for Public Policy Research once did a study on select committees and one anonymous civil servant told them that they don't change the price of fish. I've always remembered that. I do want to change the price of fish."

Questions are being been asked after reports of the failure of several outsourcing giants - including G4S, A4E, Atos, Serco and Capita - to deliver lucrative public service contracts.

With public sector contracts up for tender this year estimated to be worth £4.2bn, there's a lot for the private sector to play for.

Yet, currently two outsourcing companies - G4S and Serco - have been found by the Justice Secretary to have overcharged the government by tens of millions of pounds, having been caught out charging for tagging people still in prison, dead or not in the UK.

This tagging scandal highlights an almost complete disregard for the government's challenges to private sector failures, failures committed at the expense of - and in many cases, to the detriment of - UK taxpayers.

Speaking to the Financial Times recently, the chief executive of Capita, Paul Pindar, referred to the fraud investigation into Serco's and G4S's electronic tagging as a 'distraction', pointing to the eagerness of the 'guys in central government' (including Chief Procurement Officer, Bill Crothers and Cabinet Office Minister, Francis Maude) for the private sector to deliver public service contracts.

The Justice Secretary, Chris Grayling is now attempting to legally exclude G4S from bidding for further tagging contracts and has referred the fraud allegations to the Serious Fraud Office.

He too, will have his work cut out for him, as G4S has been consulting international legal firm Linklaters for the last few months. Linklaters is the firm recently criticised by Sun journalists for allegations of its role in their arrests, and which 'helped' G4S deal with its failure over the Olympic contract last year.

In the meantime, both the public and the voluntary sector look on aghast as appalling news of rapes, deaths and investigations connected with G4S contracts hit national and international headlines nigh on daily.
Worse still is the continuing puzzle of why such failures too often go unpunished.

We watch with interest, along with Margaret Hodge MP, to see if a select committee can change the 'price of fish' and finally hold the private sector to account.

Why We Need Women v The State (UK)

This post was originally published on The Huffington Post here on 25th July 2013 by one of our team, Sarah Cheverton.

As news spreads of how huge outsourcing companies like G4S are failing to deliver on public service contracts, a new project aims to tell the human story behind the headlines.

In the last few weeks, accounts of the outsourcing giant G4S' flailing track record to deliver on public service contracts have been exploding across our newspapers, blogs and screens.

Female asylum seekers evicted because firms contracted by G4S fail to pay rent. A G4S guard involved in the fatal restraining of a 15 year old gets promoted and 'secretly' applies to open a G4S private children's home. Rape Crisis concerned about contracts awarded to G4S to work with rape victims in Sexual Assault Referral Centres (SARCs).

Unfortunately, these are but some of the many stories highlighting the multiple failures of G4S and other corporate giants to deliver on their promises to UK taxpayers.

So when I was asked recently by UK social enterprise Kazuri to co-edit a new book seeking to tell the stories of women failed by privately-run public services, I didn't hesitate to get involved.

Woman vs The State (UK) highlights the stories behind the headlines, stories of women failed by the very systems that promised to protect them. Stories of women like Anna B, a Nigerian woman trafficked into the UK as a sex slave who fled her captors to seek asylum in 2010.

Anna and her young son were forced to move six times in six months as a result of the failure of a G4S subcontractor to pay their rent, electricity and utility bills.

She told the Guardian recently, "A lot of people are going through the same thing but they are scared to speak up. It's not right to treat people this way but no one listens to you if you are an asylum seeker."
Director of the project and founder of housing social enterprise Kazuri, Farah Damji, believes it is vital to reveal the stories of women who have been re-traumatised as a direct result of the actions of huge corporations like G4S and others.

"The health and wellbeing of women like Anna are being sold for private profit," says Farah.
"The increasing procurement of public services from the private sector is, in many cases, not only failing to protect traumatised and vulnerable women from further farm, but also frequently inflicting further trauma upon victims, survivors and their loved ones."

Farah is now asking women's organisations across the UK to come forward with their experiences of women who have experienced such failures, including in the criminal justice system, exile, secure hospitals, domestic violence shelters and sexual assault referral centres (SARCs).

These stories will be collected into a book, with individual stories presented anonymously in order to protect the identities and to prevent further distress to those involved.

The Woman vs The State book will include a foreword from Head of the Criminal Bar Association Michael Turner QC, and will be published by independent publisher Off_Press.

It will form part of the evidence base for a broader campaign calling for a formal public inquiry into the procurement, commissioning and monitoring of public services by large private sector companies, to be launched in the House of Lords in November.

"G4S was awarded a contract to provide social housing to asylum seekers, though it had no previous experience of doing so," said Farah.

"Given the repeated failings of G4S in delivering on its contracts - even those related to their core business of security, like the Olympics - I simply do not believe that that this is a company in whose 'care' vulnerable people are safe."

Call for submissions Women vs The State (UK)

We are currently seeking submissions of personal testimonies for the Woman vs State (UK) project.

WHAT IS IT?

Women vs The State (UK) is a compilation of women’s accounts which seeks to highlight the systemic injustices against women arising out of the steady privatisation of public services, with a foreword by Michael Turner QC. 

WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?

The increasing deployment of the private sector to fulfill public services – in the criminal justice system, housing for asylum seekers, and the violence against women sector - not only fails to protect traumatised women from further harm, but often inflicts further trauma upon female victims and survivors and their loved ones. A recent damning report by the think tank the Institute for Government has drawn attention to the many problems with the government’s current programme of privatisation. Outsourcing contracts to organizations that lack the experience, expertise or even willingness to provide effective services is suggestive of the questionable direction the welfare system is being taken by successive governments. The unremitting focus on cutting costs shows a shocking disregard for the many human beings who are suffering and for whom this welfare is (in many cases, literally) a matter of life and death.

A recent report by Kazuri entitled “Carers or Captors?” highlights the UK asylum system’s abysmal failure to protect women. Many of these women are seeking asylum because of the extreme trauma they have already suffered: they are thus particularly vulnerable to re-traumatisation. G4S, one of the largest security companies in the world, won £324m out of a seven year £620m contract to house asylum seekers, and has made more than £1.5bn over five years from government contracts in the UK alone. The prospect of huge profits awaiting private sector organisations suggest that they will continue to express interest in public sector contracts, but continuous outsourcing belies any real governmental interest in welfare. The report indicates their apathetic attitude towards providing a standard of housing fit for human habitation; this coupled with their policy of intimidation and harassment suggests their motives are unlikely to be altruistic. When the government allows known intimidators of vulnerable women to run rape crisis centers, we believe something must be done. Evidence given by the Stephan Small to the Home Affairs Select Committee looking into the Compass housing contract confirms G4S and Serco are running housing for vulnerable people as loss leaders, with a view to get a foot in the door to provide large social housing contracts to vulnerable communities. We don’t believe security or outsource companies have a place in this sector.

On top of this, the entrenched institutional bias against women strips them of both their agency and their ability to stand against the structures of power in this country. It silences thousands of women, often doubly marginalized for their colour, race, ethnicity or social background.

WE NEED YOU.

We will shatter the silence around the outsourcing of government contracts, and their sickening effects on the most vulnerable members of UK society.

We are seeking personal stories of women who have experienced public services delivered by private companies, including in the criminal justice system, exile, secure hospitals, domestic violence shelters and SARCs. We believe the stories of those whose health and wellbeing has been sold for private profit deserve to be told.

Our current title, reminiscent of a court case, suggests the oppositional relationship between vulnerable women and the powers that be. We hope that projects like ours will be able to draw attention to this unfortunate antagonism, and remind the government that the welfare of its citizens should be their first priority. After all, the true measure of any society can be found in how it treats its most vulnerable members.

SUBMISSION DETAILS

We are looking for first person true accounts which showcases experiences with private sector organizations contracted to fulfill public services – these can be asylum seekers, refugees, domestic violence survivors, human trafficking survivors, offenders or ex-offenders, or indeed, any woman who has suffered injustice at the hands of privatisation. The submissions can be in any form: prose, poetry, lyric, interview transcripts, case studies etc. These can be written and sent in via email or post, or we are happy to conduct interviews to collect stories. All stories will be told anonymously to protect identities and prevent further distress to those involved.

Submissions should be around 1,000 – 2,000 words, but we are flexible. We are happy to entertain any other thoughts, ideas or possible submissions.

If you are interested in providing a case study for Woman vs State (UK), please contact the editors: Sarah Cheverton Sarah@kazuri.org.uk or Nanki Chawla Nanki@kazuri.org.uk

LAUNCH

Woman vs State (UK) will be launched at a high profile event at the House of Lords in November 2013, and will provide a series of case studies to support Kazuri Homes’ campaign calling for a public inquiry into the procurement, commissioning and monitoring of public services by large private sector companies.

Editors – Sarah Cheverton and Nanki Chawla

Creative Director – Farah Damji, Kazuri

Language / English

Pages / 120

Margaret Hodge confirms review of private sector delivery of public services

Along with other campaigners and commentators, Kazuri has spent much time of late calling on Government to hold G4S to account for the disastrous experiences of many women under the COMPASS contract for housing asylum seekers.

We have also become increasingly concerned about the growing involvement of large private sector companies in the delivery of public services to vulnerable people, including the recent awarding to G4S of a contract to run Sexual Assault Referral Centres (SARCs).

We are delighted to have received a letter from Margaret Hodge, Chair of the Committee of Public Accounts confirming an examination of the delivery of the COMPASS contract and a broader review of the delivery of public services by private sector contractors.

The letter reads as follows:

As you will know, the former UK Border Agency (now part of the Home Office) recently tendered for new asylum housing contracts, which began operating in May 2012, each covering a region of the UK. You raised a concern that asylum seekers have been evicted from properties because of rent arrears that had arisen because G4S's subcontractors were not paying landlords.

I have forwarded your letter to the National Audit Office (NAO), as the issues you raise regarding asylum accommodation are of interest in the context of the NAO's work in this area. The NAO plans to look at COMPASS and the arrangements for asylum accommodation. This work will feed into a wider review which the NAO is undertaking looking at the delivery of public services by private sector contractors (including G4S) to support a Public Accounts Committee hearing with the contractors in the Autumn.

 I understand that the Home Office is aware of general concerns around the contracts in operation, although it was not aware of the specific details around G4S and rent arrears and will look into this further.

We strongly welcome this news and look forward to supporting the Government in its examination of the delivery of public services by private contractors.

Kazuri has recently opened a Call for Submissions to support our own campaign for a public inquiry to look into the letting of large public service contracts by government departments, the waste of public funds as these contracts are not managed efficiently, and the impossible situation of women who are forced to use these services to seek redress or improvement.