§ The Minister of State, Home Office (Baroness Scotland of Asthal)On 27 February 2003, my right honourable friend the Home Secretary announced the Government's response to the recommendations of the independent review team appointed the previous September to take a fundamental look at the operation of the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB). One of its recommendations was that the Capita contract should be renegotiated to align the contract to the changed and evolving circumstances that had occurred since the original contract was signed back in August 2000. Following a thorough and constructive period of negotiation, the Criminal Records Bureau and Capita signed a revised contract on 22 December 2003.
The revised contract is a major step forward for the CRB and represents a substantial improvement over the previous terms. The revised contract now provides for:
as a result of recent and planned efficiency savings, from October 2004, a significant reduction in the price paid to Capita for processing each disclosure application;
the ability to achieve year-on-year operational cost reductions with further incentives to reduce operational costs over the lifetime of the contract; any such cost savings would be reflected in further price reductions; pricing levels matched to guaranteed volumes, agreed on a bi-annual basis;
additional contractual performance measures including both qualitative and quantitative standards to enhance further the disclosure service; far greater clarity of roles and responsibilities within the partnership;
incentives to allow Capita to further enhance the IT and other technical systems to meet evolving process and output requirements;
the implementation of recommendations made by independent consultants on the IT system;
an improved agreement in respect of financial penalties for failing to meet agreed performance standards, which have been revised to meet the evolving circumstances that had occurred since the original contract was signed back in August 2000;
a one-off payment to Capita of £3.6 million in final settlement of the earlier agreed contract change, which provided for the introduction of the blank application form. The payment covered the additional cost of processing the blank application forms in the period February to September 2003.
Capita's part in the renegotiation underlined its commitment to this partnership and to this important public service. It also reinforced our belief that it was preferable to continue with the partnership if at all
32WSpossible. The partnership approach, with continued open book accounting and commitment shown during this renegotiation augurs well for the future.
The CRB is now on a sound footing and through the revised contract will now have far greater flexibility to improve and develop the disclosure service over the coming years.