Question
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps were taken by the Ministry of Justice to check with other departments what programmes for staffing, procurement and payroll services were already planned or in use before entering into a contract with Steria for such services; and whether they will confirm that the contract was subsequently terminated and at what cost.
Answered on
15 July 2014
In early 2010, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) started a programme to design and deliver a new, single system to meet all MoJ needs.
The Government's Next Generation Shared Services (NGSS) Strategy was published in December 2012 and commenced the establishment of two Independent Shared Service Centres (ISSC1 and ISSC2). In the NGSS Strategy, MoJ was to remain an in-house, standalone centre. However, a change to the delivery approach meant that the MoJ Shared Services Programme was discontinued in early 2013. This provided an opportunity to consider whether ISSC1 or ISSC2 might be more efficient and effective options for the department.To align with the NGSS Strategic Plan, the MoJ are now proceeding into detailed discussions with Shared Services Connected Limited (SSCL) with a view to joining ISSC2. SSCL is a joint venture between the Cabinet Office and Steria Ltd.
This decision means that some elements of expenditure under the old Shared Services programme have now become redundant and a constructive loss of £56.3m has been disclosed accordingly in the 2013-14 financial statements to reflect this. The majority of the total investment was spent on assets and infrastructure, which can be used by the new shared services scheme.