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Bumbling security firm G4S has failed to get its contract to run the Wolds prison in East Yorkshire renewed, with the Ministry of Justice deciding it’s best to bring it back to public ownership rather than keep it in private hands.
Prisons minister Jeremy Wright denied the decision had anything to do with the security firm’s high-profile botching of Olympic security, telling the BBC: “We’ve assessed all of these bids on their merits and not on the basis of who is making the bid. This is a consideration we’ve made entirely aside from what happened to G4S at the Olympics.”
G4S has been running the prison since it opened in 1992. Inspectors weren’t impressed by its recent performance, citing the easy “availability of drugs” and a lack of work and training provision as reasons to pull the chain on G4S’s tenure. The move ought to save us put upon taxpayers around £430m over the next six years. [Metro]
Image credit: Prison from Shutterstock
“The move ought to save us put upon taxpayers around £430m over the next six years” – Hang on, wasn’t the whole point of privatisation that it was supposed to be more cost effective and efficient than the public sector? How is it that we have been paying more for it?
Basically the security companies put in tenders of how much they would charge to run the prison. They were the cheapest, but after the contracts were awarded, extra’s were added in that boosted the costs, as not all costs can be guessed. That and the probability that the head of G4S is possibly friends with some mp’s who may or may not have done quite well themselves from the deal.
Thanks but it was a rhetorical question
don’t get me wrong G4S have probably milked the contract as much as possible but the government would have signed off on the extras. If they weren’t diligent enough to keep extra expenses down then why would they be when the whole operation is goverment run?
Dare I say too many backhanders?
They should nationalise all of them if it creates a big saving.
They should also turn off the heating and issue them some extra blankets too, that’d save a load of money on their fuel bills.
naa, the EU health and safety legislation would probably require we give them 600 count egyptian cotton sheets.