06 October 2006
Whitehall's largest trade union this week raised fears that skilled government IT jobs could shortly be transferred abroad, after a leading contractor announced compulsory redundancies.
The Public and Commercial Services union, which represents 300,000 public servants, reacted angrily to news that US IT giant Electronic Data Systems has axed 90 UK staff working on support contracts similar to those administered by EDS from India.
Public Finance has discovered that around half of the staff involved work directly on EDS contracts with the Department for Work and Pensions. EDS's overseas offices already conduct some DWP-related work.
EDS denied that it was moving the posts abroad, although a spokeswoman for the company said that it would 'continue to expand its offshore administration of UK contracts'.
Announcing the redundancies, the EDS spokeswoman said: 'As we continue to re-skill and restructure our workforce in the UK to meet our client requirements, it has become necessary to make in the region of 90 positions redundant across our offices in the Northeast and Northwest.'
But PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: 'We are extremely fearful that these job losses are being motivated by the desire to cut costs through the offshoring of government work… [which] allows companies to exploit low-paid and poorly organised workers overseas, while throwing skilled and experienced staff in the UK out of work.'
The job cuts will affect staff at DWP offices in Peterlee, Milton Keynes, Newcastle, Sheffield and Fylde. EDS is in discussions with the DWP and PCS to agree redundancy packages.
A leaked internal DWP memo, obtained by PF earlier this year, hinted that the government could in future allow more private contractors to reduce costs by taking work abroad.
The memo said: 'In line with the continuing need for government departments to reduce costs, proposals are being made by service providers to undertake work for or on behalf of the department overseas.
'This could involve the transfer of part or even all functions of a DWP area of business that would have previously been located in the UK, to a centre located outside of the UK.'
Prospect lends support to nuclear policy
Whitehall's specialist trade union this week urged the government to plough ahead with proposals to build a new generation of nuclear reactors to meet Britain's energy needs.
But Prospect general secretary Paul Noon said that urgent action is required to ensure that the UK retains an adequate skills base across the nuclear industry, or 'new build will never get off the drawing board'.
He added that evidence has already revealed 'skills shortages across the industry'.
Prospect, which represents 15,000 civil and public service staff working in the nuclear sector – including at public bodies such as the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority – is at loggerheads with other trade unions over the issue. Unions such as Unison and the T&G, for example, have campaigned against new reactors.
Like Prime Minister Tony Blair, Prospect sees nuclear power as the most effective medium-term method of meeting the UK's target to reduce carbon emissions, while producing the energy needed to satisfy rising domestic demand.
The union called on Blair, and the departments for Trade & Industry and Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, to appease concerns within the private sector over future governments' commitment to building new nuclear plants.
While Blair supports new nuclear reactors, he has made it clear that they must be funded and operated entirely by private sector cash.
Noon said: 'Nuclear must be part of the future energy mix and we must now move without further delay from policy to delivery.
'Ministers must come up with proposals to give industry and the City confidence over a long period that their money will not be wasted because of a change in political direction.'
DTI transfers electricity safety work to HSE
The Department of Trade and Industry this week continued Whitehall's downsizing programme by transferring part of its engineering inspection responsibilities to an executive agency.
Under the plan, the Health and Safety Executive will assume responsibility for inspection work previously carried out by the DTI's internal Engineering Inspectorate. It means the HSE will become the sole regulator for all safety issues associated with electricity transmission and distribution. The DTI's small EI unit will simply transfer to the HSE as part of the plan.
The switch was suggested following Philip Hampton's Treasury-commissioned review of Whitehall regulation, published in 2004, which aimed to cut the cost of government inspection and administration.
Lord Hunt, minister for health and safety, said: 'The transfer… ensures that safety remains paramount whilst simplifying matters for industry by ensuring that there will now be only one safety regulator to report incidents.'
PFoct2006
