News digest 2 June 2011
The digest starts with Birmingham city
council taking the dubious honour of being the first council to
offshore local jobs, elsewhere the Care Quality Commission is
challenged, Lansley says the NHS must reform or die, although his
spin doctor is silenced, Osborne’s actions see Centrica leave a gas
field idle, while manufacturing drops raising fears of a double
dip, executive pay at Morrisons is attacked and HSBC is taken to
task for assuming 10 per cent of its staff automatically
underperform…
Local services via India -
Birmingham city council is back in the headlines once again after
Unite revealed that the Tory-led administration is planning on
offshoring a range of jobs to India. 100 jobs in IT and HR support
will be offshored by the end of the year. Unite national officer
Peter Allenson said: "It beggars belief that council
workers will be forced to train workers from overseas to do their
jobs so Capita and Birmingham council can lift and shift them
abroad. This is a major betrayal of the people of Birmingham and
the loyal staff who serve this city … Unite is demanding that
Birmingham city council halts its plans. We fear this could be just
the tip of the iceberg and other councils could follow suit.
Thousands of public sector jobs could go. Once these jobs go they
will not come back.” The move could also be a false
economy as for every pound earned by a local worker, some two
thirds are spent locally… (Mirror p21, BBC news,
Unite release)
Council chief quits – And
Hartlepool council chief executive Paul Walker – who was involved
in a row over a £10,000 pay rise to bring his pay to £168,000 while
86 roles at the council were under threat – has announced he will
quit in August (Mirror p14,
Times p4).
Care Quality Commission
challenged – And the scandal over the abuse of residents
with learning disabilities in Bristol continues with many papers
reporting that the regulator – the Care Quality Commission – failed
to act on warnings which were first raised over six months ago, the
CQC has apologised and MPs are to investigate the organisation’s
failings in this case (Mirror p15, Sun p2, Express p7, Mail p10, Times p11, Indie p4, Guardian p7, Telegraph p, FT p, Morning Star p2).
Supportfor Southern
Cross – Government steps in to pledge that no elderly
patients will be left homeless if the care giant goes bust,
although rival care providers are hovering to possibly cherry pick
homes. More critically questions are being asked about former owner
the US private equity firm Blackstone, which bought the company in
2004, sold off the homes, then sold off the company three years
later. The bail out could cost the government £600 million
(Mirror p15, Sun p2, Express p2, Mail p1, Times p11, Indie p4, Guardian p1, Telegraph p4, FT p20, Morning Star p31).
Reform or die – Health
secretary lays out the reason behind his plans for the NHS in the
Telegraph (p17) saying
that radical change is the only way to save it from a financial
crisis, suppose the plan for bonuses for high performing GPS will
save the service a fortune…
Lansley spin silenced – And
the Indie (p6) reports
that the health secretary’s spin doctor, Jenny Jackson, has been
barred from briefing journalists after she was caught sending
emails undermining the deputy prime minister’s credibility over his
views on NHS reforms, surprised they think Clegg has any
credibility left…
Asylum amnesty – And talking
of credibility with a backlog of over 450,000 cases the home
affairs select committee has criticised the home office for its
slow approach to dealing with asylum claims, some 400,000 cases
have been dealt with and 161,000 have been given leave to remain
(Mirror p18, Sun p2, Express p1, Mail p21, Times p3, Indie p20, Guardian p4, Telegraph p, FT p2).
Morecambe bay mothballed? –
And after Osborne’s ill-thought through windfall tax on energy
companies Centrica has announced it has acted on its threat to
leave Britain’s biggest gas field in Morecambe Bay idle. (Times p33, Indie p35, FT p1/3).
Manufacturing worsens – And
more bad news for chancellor George Osborne as one of the few areas
of the UK economy that has been a success in recent months has
started to slow. According to the latest figures from Markit/CIPS
the UK's manufacturing sector grew at its weakest pace in almost
two years in May with the sector seeing near stagnation after a
period of expansion from mid 2009. More worrying is that output and
new orders have contracted for the first time in two years possibly
indicating a longer dip is on the way (Mirror p49, Sun p45, Express p64, Mail p24, Times p1, Indie p31, Guardian p24, Telegraph b1/5, FT p2).
Cable opens factory – And
more misery for manufacturing as the Mirror (p23) reports business
secretary Vince Cable opens a new factory for vacuum pump maker the
Edwards Group, the Korean factory will lead to 200 redundancies at
the company’s UK site. Said Unite’s John Rowse: “It’s a
scandal the business secretary is opening a factory in South Korea
when hundreds of British jobs are being lost as a result … Mr Cable
should be supporting British manufacturing and British industry and
jobs.”
Topps Tiles floored –
Building form reports sales down 2.1 per cent for the last seven
weeks while builders’ merchant Wolseley said UK profits fell by 10
per cent over the last three months indicating the building sector
is slowing down (Mirror p49,
Times p38).
Cucumber conundrum – The E.
coli scare continues with the source of the bug still unidentified,
although it is not from Spain (Mirror p15, Sun p6, Express p5, Mail p19, Indie p26, Guardian p23, FT p8, Morning Star p7).
Morrisons pay scheme attacked
– Corporate governance watchdog the Pirc has attacked the
supermarket’s executive pay scheme for being ‘excessive’ and ‘not
challenging enough’ ahead of the grocer’s AGM next week. The body
has urged shareholders to vote against the remuneration report
(Mail p66, Indie p32).
Ex De La Rue boss joins
suitor – Even as French printer Oberthur announced it had
no intention of relaunching a takeover bid for the UK printer, the
firm swelled speculation after it announced it has appointed James
Hussey – who was De La Rue’s CEO until last year – on a multi-year
consultancy contract (Mail p67, Times p33, Indie p36, Telegraph b8, FT p19).
Decision already made – And
finally from bank notes to the banking sector and the Times (p37) reports on the fall
out from last week’s AGM at HSBC where the bank’s senior management
was taken to task over its appraisal system. HSBC uses a ‘forced
distribution’ scheme which means it has a quotas that say 10 per
cent of its staff will be ‘underperforming’ as all managers have to
place employees in set categories. Staff lose out on bonuses and
pay rises depending on which category they are placed in. Are the
same rules applied to the senior management board? Unite national
officer Dave Fleming said: “I refuse to accept that
with sophisticated recruitment techniques you have that level of
failure.”
Edited by Mik Sabiers
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