Public Accounts Committee criticises award of contract to A4e
The Public Accounts Committee’s chair, Margaret Hodge, asked civil servants why welfare-to-work companies with poor track records of fulfilling previous contracts had been given new work.
“It seemed rather surprising to me that you did not have to regard to the past performance of contractors. Why not?” she asked. “A4e … their performance on [Pathways to Work] was abysmal … Why didn’t you look at past performance of contractors?”
Fellow committee member Richard Bacon, Conservative MP for south Norfolk, added:
“Are you seriously saying that you could not take into account that A4e had dreadful performance in one of the immediate predecessor programmes?”He said that the company got 9% of clients into work in the Pathways to Work programme – it had been expected to deliver 30%.
There was also concern raised about dividends of £11m being paid out.
