News from Paul Blomfield MP Member of Parliament for Sheffield Central

The following is a press release from the office of Paul Blomfield MP:

Paul Blomfield MP to accuse Prime Minister of

"empty words" over Sheffield jobs to be moved offshore

In a debate in Parliament tomorrow Paul Blomfield, MP for Sheffield Central, will accuse the Prime Minister of empty words over the loss of 239 civil service jobs in Sheffield. Mr Blomfield has secured a debate following the announcement by SSCL, a private company part-owned by the government, that they are shutting the Department for Work and Pensions office at Kings Court.

In a letter to Mr Blomfield the Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude has all but confirmed that the work currently done in Sheffield is to be moved off-shore. In January the Prime Minister told the World Economic Forum that he wanted the UK to become “the re-shoring nation” and that the Government would work to brings jobs back to the UK from abroad.

Speaking ahead of his Westminster Hall debate on the Shared Services job losses Paul Blomfield MP said:

“In January the Prime Minister told the World Economic Forum that he wanted the UK to become “the re-shoring nation” to bring jobs back from abroad. He even set up a new body called ‘Reshore UK’ to do this.  Now the Government is letting a private company take an axe to publically funded civil service jobs in Sheffield and move the work out of the country. Unless urgent action is taken the Prime Minister’s statement will be seen as nothing more than empty words.

“Ministers have treated staff disgracefully and dishonestly. Last year they refused to tell me how many jobs would be moved offshore under this privatisation contract, now they’ve all but confirmed that the work lost in my constituency is to be off-shored. I’ll be pressing Ministers to commit to arrange for Reshore UK to meet with SSCL and the Cabinet Office to consider how these jobs can stay in the UK.”

--Ends—

Notes for Editors

1.      DEBATE: Paul Blomfield’s debate on ‘Shared Services Job Losses’ will take in Parliament in Westminster Hall on Wednesday 9^th April at 11am.

2.      SSCL CONTRACT: In November 2013 the Government handed a lucrative contract ‘worth in excess of £1bn over 10 years’ to a new private company Shared Services Connected Ltd (SSCL). SSCL is 75% owned by the private firm Steria and 25% owned by the Government. http://www.steria.com/uk/media-centre/press-releases/press-releases/article/steria-awarded-major-uk-government-contract-to-transform-shared-services-and-help-drive-civil-servic/

 

3.      JOB LOSSES:

a)      In March 2014 SSCL has confirmed that three of its sites – Cardiff, Leeds and Sheffield – will close later this year with a loss of over 500 jobs in total. 239 jobs will be lost in Sheffield with the closure of the DWP office at King’s Court. They have also refused to rule out further cuts and office closures in future.

b)      On the day before the privatisation took place – 31st October 2013 - SSCL agreed  a six month no compulsory redundancy agreement and one-year guarantee of no site closures. SCCL are "honouring" to the day by closing the three sites on 31 October 2014.

4.      OFFSHORING:

a)      In January David Cameron made a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos on the opportunities of re-shoring jobs back to the UK. The Prime Minister said “there is a chance for Britain to become the “Re-Shore Nation” and that we must “act now to seize the opportunities of re-shoring”. https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/world-economic-forum-davos-2014-speech-by-david-cameron--2

b)      Francis Maude’s letter to Paul Blomfield (31^st March) says:

Regarding the possibility of work being sent overseas, it is vital for SSCL to be competitive in the long term, maximising job creation. SSCL needs to be line with other companies of this kind, which often see some non-customer facing transactional roles being sourced offshore.

5.      CONFIDENTIAL DATA CONCERNS:

a)      SCCL handles the sensitive personal and confidential data of tens of thousands of civil servants in the Department for Work and Pensions, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Environment Agency. Shared Services provide corporate services for IT, human resources management, pay and payroll, procurement, and finance.

In the debate Mr Blomfield will raise concerns about how this sensitive data will be handed securely if the work is moved offshore.