A scandal hit firm run by a Tory peer has quietly become one of the leading contractors on the coalitions welfare to work programme.
When the initiative was launched by the then employment minister Chris Grayling, he name checked a "voluntary sector organisation" called Rehab Jobfit whose involvement was a "massive boost for the big society". But Rehab Jobfit is in fact a joint venture between an Irish charity called Rehab and Interserve, a distinctly non-voluntary sector PFI specialist, chaired by the conservative peer Lord Blackwell.
Interserve has three "prime" Work Programme contracts in Wales and the South West - but its public sector work is, alas, nothing to boast about. in 2009 the Office of Fair Trading fined it £11.6m for rigging the price of public sector building contracts after it and other builders carved up supposedly competitive bids on big public contracts such as hospitals. The fines followed an investigation into "cover pricing", whereby companies put in artificially high bids to ensure another firm in the scam wins the deal.
Interserve is still reliant on public contracts, especially PFI, and is using its PFI experience on the Work Programme. Board member Dougie Sutherland, previously on Gordon Brown's PFI task force before working for PFI contractors, now runs its Work Programme business. Its share of Rehab Jobfit is owned through a subsidiary named "Interserve PFI 2009 Ltd".
Interserve has other Conservative links too: Gloucestershire Tory councillor David Thorpe serves on the board alongside Lord Blackwell, and Interserve's lobbying firm, MHP, has hired Sean Worth and Bill Morgan, former advisers to David Cameron and Andrew Landley respectively.
Interserve likes Work Programme contracts so much that last year it bought some more, taking over Business Employment Services & Training Ltd (BEST), which runs the Work Programme in West Yorkshire. Rehab Jobfit and BEST, no renamed Interserve Working Futures, receive at least £22m a year between them from Work Programme contracts.
Is Interserve any good at it's job? Last year's figures showed that just 2.8% of people referred by the service went into jobs, putting it well below the agreed minimum on its contract.
ATOS
More on ATOS,...Following the last Eye's revelation that Atos made an out-of-court settlement for disability discriminationwith one user over access, Reading councillor Peter Ruhemann has shared with us the results of his own freedom on information request.
When the initiative was launched by the then employment minister Chris Grayling, he name checked a "voluntary sector organisation" called Rehab Jobfit whose involvement was a "massive boost for the big society". But Rehab Jobfit is in fact a joint venture between an Irish charity called Rehab and Interserve, a distinctly non-voluntary sector PFI specialist, chaired by the conservative peer Lord Blackwell.
Interserve has three "prime" Work Programme contracts in Wales and the South West - but its public sector work is, alas, nothing to boast about. in 2009 the Office of Fair Trading fined it £11.6m for rigging the price of public sector building contracts after it and other builders carved up supposedly competitive bids on big public contracts such as hospitals. The fines followed an investigation into "cover pricing", whereby companies put in artificially high bids to ensure another firm in the scam wins the deal.
Interserve is still reliant on public contracts, especially PFI, and is using its PFI experience on the Work Programme. Board member Dougie Sutherland, previously on Gordon Brown's PFI task force before working for PFI contractors, now runs its Work Programme business. Its share of Rehab Jobfit is owned through a subsidiary named "Interserve PFI 2009 Ltd".
Interserve has other Conservative links too: Gloucestershire Tory councillor David Thorpe serves on the board alongside Lord Blackwell, and Interserve's lobbying firm, MHP, has hired Sean Worth and Bill Morgan, former advisers to David Cameron and Andrew Landley respectively.
Interserve likes Work Programme contracts so much that last year it bought some more, taking over Business Employment Services & Training Ltd (BEST), which runs the Work Programme in West Yorkshire. Rehab Jobfit and BEST, no renamed Interserve Working Futures, receive at least £22m a year between them from Work Programme contracts.
Is Interserve any good at it's job? Last year's figures showed that just 2.8% of people referred by the service went into jobs, putting it well below the agreed minimum on its contract.
ATOS
More on ATOS,...Following the last Eye's revelation that Atos made an out-of-court settlement for disability discriminationwith one user over access, Reading councillor Peter Ruhemann has shared with us the results of his own freedom on information request.
The DWP told him that 28 out of 140 medical assessment centres, or 20%, do not provide wheelchair access. Many, including larger centres, are on the second or third floor. Brilliant!
Source Private Eye
Source Private Eye
