Passport to profits
At the same time as Passport Service (IPS) staff are having to strike to defend their pay and conditions, senior civil servants are reported to be holding shares worth millions of pounds in a company that earns more than £100 million a year from government contracts.
According to the Sunday Times, at least five senior civil servants, who were former employees of Accenture, have shares worth up to £10 million each in the company.
One of the former Accenture employees, James Hall is now the chief of the IPS management board. He held on to at least £8 million-worth of shares (the last of these not being sold until last year).
James Hall is also a friend of the managing director of Accenture's European business and was a guest at her Spanish holiday home last month. Accenture put in a bid for work on the national ID card scheme. This extremely lucrative contract was overseen by James Hall's department.
Although Accenture eventually pulled out of this particular contract, it had been short-listed by James Hall's department for the lucrative deal. The shenanigans of James Hall and Accenture have not been lost on IPS strikers.
Elaine Brunskill
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In The Socialist 31 July 2008:
Voters reject Labour: Build a new workers' party
Glasgow East by-election: New Labour's support evaporates
Olympics
The not so 'green' Beijing Olympics
Socialist Party campaigns
Gestures to the low paid are not enough: Fight for a living wage
'A Workers' MP on a Worker's Wage'
Campaigners keep fighting to save local post offices
Socialist Party review
The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists
Socialist Party workplace news
Land registry in third pay walk out
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