Change of plan
A US-owned outsourcing company has dropped plans to sue the Ministry of Justice after the Lord Chancellor reversed yet another of his predecessor's policies.
The former justice secretary, Chris Grayling, set out plans to privatise the collection of court fines and penalties in 2013. Belfast-based Concentrix won the £675m contract and, according to Private Eye, spent '£8m developing plans in the belief it would secure the deal'.
In June, US conglomerate-owned began advertising for staff to hound those who owed the courts money, but when Michael Gove scrapped privatisation plans in October, the Eye broke the news that Concentrix was planning to sue the government over the decision to do so, despite contracts never being signed.
A MoJ spokesperson told BuzzFeed News it had 'acted lawfully in making our decision and complied with the relevant procurement regulations'.
'We believe that in-house modernisation is the best option for HM Courts and Tribunals Service and our decision will provide best value for taxpayers' money in the long run,' they said.
This is not the first time Gove has reversed one of 'Failing Grayling's' policies. In December, the justice secretary scrapped the criminal courts charge, an embarrassment for Grayling who had only introduced it seven months earlier.
Gove also cancelled a £5.9m contract to provide a training programme for Saudi Arabian prisons to universal acclaim from human rights campaigners. And, in July 2015, he abolished rules restricting the number of books a prisoner can have.
Any guesses which policies will be thrown into the 'Grayling ideas' bin in 2016?
