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The fatcat players in Fife's Pinnacle Schools PPP Deal Adapted from an
Article in The Scottish Socialist Voice (SSP Glenrothes would like to thank Arthur Andersen (Independent Auditors of questionable integrity to Corrections Corporation of America and Sodexho and to the collapsed US Energy giant), Maclay Murray & Spens, and Shepherd & Wedderburn for their gracious visits to this site while presumably acting in their respective clients' interests.) Fife Council announced on Monday 10th September that they were entering into a Public Private Partnership (PPP) deal with Pinnacle Schools (Fife) Limited to design, build, finance and operate two secondary schools in Dunfermline and Cowdenbeath and a primary school in Anstruther. The three companies in the Pinnacle Schools (Fife) consortium are Sir Robert McAlpine Ltd, Newcourt Capital, and Sodexho. Sir Robert McAlpine is one of the largest construction firms in the UK. They have been given contracts by the Government under PFI or PPP to the value of thousands of millions of pounds. The deal arranged between Pinnacle Schools and Fife Council was described by The Dundee Courier as a £40 million pound deal. A press briefing on the McAlpine website referred to it as "part of a £160 million public/private partnership (PPP) deal." So where has the extra £120 million come from? Is this a typo, or is it some measure of the profits which Pinnacle Schools hope to gain from the lucrative deal which ties Fife Council to a twenty-five year contract? The McAlpine website also reveals that the funding requiring to be borrowed is £47 million (why was this rounded down to forty in press reports of the deal?) The finance will be arranged through Newcourt Capital. Newcourt Capital is part of the CIT Group which in March 2001 was acquired by Tyco International the global electronics giant. Tyco’s Chairman of the Board, President, Director and Chief Executive Officer is a man by the name of L. Dennis Kozlowski. Mr Kozlowski is also a member of the board of directors of Raytheon, which has a large operation in Glenrothes, Fife building electronics components and is one of the largest employers in Fife, not including Fife Council itself. Raytheon have a big stake in the employment market in Fife, now it appears they want a stake in our schools. McAlpine, as mentioned before have gained preferred bidder status in a number of PPP or PFI projects in the UK. In one of these projects, the £900 million contract to build the new Colchester barracks, as in the Pinnacle consortium, they are joined by Sodexho. Sodexho is a subsidiary of Sodexho Alliance, a French conglomerate which is the largest supplier of food to American college campuses, but has something of a chequered past to say the least. Until recently they owned an 8% stake in the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) with whom South Carolina cancelled a contract to run a prison after eighteen boys were allegedly kept in a one-man cell. On asking to use the toilet, the boys were allegedly given paper cups to use. (Nick Cohen Observer Article 23/4/00) Sodexho withdrew their investment after a year long campaign by US students. They seem to have no intention of divesting in their prison holdings in the UK unless forced to. Not that any company should be forced to do anything except by judicial bodies or legal forms of protest and direct action. Sodexho subsidiary UK Detention Services Ltd (UKDS), were given the contract to build and run Blakenhurst Prison in Redditch, Worcestershire. Four prison wardens were recently jailed for the unlawful killing of Alton Manning a remand prisoner through use of excessive force on 8th December 1995. Blakenhurst is now thankfully back in public ownership and control after the State Prison Service recently won in their bid to take over Blakenhurst from UKDS by lodging proposals which were reported to be 13% higher on quality, but 12% cheaper than the UKDS bid. Makes a difference not having to pay shareholders obviously. UKDS rather than being prevented from being involved in any future prisons built and now run Agecroft prison in Salford near Manchester. Sodexho Catering contracts include supplying: The Home Office, HM Treasury, The Inland Revenue, Welsh Development Agency and The Scottish Parliament, where Henry McLeish is said to be a big fan. Sodexho also allegedly run the catering for the Mexican Army who allegedly continue to violently repress the Zapatistas, the indigenous people of Chiapas, Mexico. Perhaps their biggest growth industry though (if you believe the tabloid hype about the numbers of asylum seekers entering Britain) is their services to needy asylum seekers. Sodexho administer and run the asylum seekers voucher scheme, a scheme they promoted to a major supermarket chain with the words: "Don’t miss this revenue making opportunity. Vouchers will be the beneficiaries’ only method of buying essential living products. No change given, but you receive the full value of the voucher." It has been suggested that Sodexho are raking it in themselves, but just how much money they are being paid by the government to administer the voucher system is unknown. Jack Straw stated quite clearly and this would no doubt be backed up by his successor David Blunkett, that the fee paid to Sodexho by the government is a matter of commercial confidentiality. A link to another archived newspaper article which alleges specific monetary sums will appear here soon. It is no surprise to me that Fife Council leader Christine May appeared careful not to voice any opinion on the unquestionably humiliating voucher system at the recent public meeting at the Adam Smith Centre in Kirkcaldy attended by Tommy Sheridan and Aamer Anwar. It might appear to some that she did not want to risk offending her new business partner. Rather than condemn the depravity of imposing vouchers on asylum seekers, Fife Council put more business their way. Assuming that Fife Council know Sodexho are involved in Pinnacle, it might have been prudent for them to have at least checked Sodexho’s track record in PPP projects. There is evidence of discontent amongst U.S. students and hotel and restaurant unions aimed at Sodexho. Are Fife Council aware of this? I personally would question Sodexho's suitability to be involved in the running of schools. The performance of UKDS seems to be a warning to anyone who thinks that private companies can satisfy shareholders and keep standards of efficiency high without letting ethical practices slip. Sodexho and Newcourt Capital are in my opinion nothing but economic migrants following a fast buck wherever it leads them. They have found in Britain a level of corporate taxation which allows them to maximise their profits at the general public’s expense. It’s time to stop these apparently Parasitic Private Profiteers. We cannot entrust the future of our children to these companies who could rip off Fife taxpayers to the tune of millions of pounds, in my opinion. Evidence from other PPP and PFI projects has in many cases shown a decrease in services provided, but at a higher cost to the taxpayer. How SSP Glenrothes responded to this news story originally... <Click Here> |