Prison porridge costs taxpayers £165m a year Politics Porridge, baked beans and other prison food cost taxpayers a combined £165m a year, City AM can reveal, as questions around spending efficiencies loom over the Ministry of Justice. The government has signed a blockbuster £826.7m deal with a leading catering distributor to supply food for prisoners and staff. BFS Group, a subsidiary of South [...]
The 68p lawsuit that threatened to upend the British bond market Markets In 2023, the Financial Conduct Authority set out to modernise the bond market. A noble ambition. But as many seasoned City execs will tell you, noble ambitions from regulators don’t always work out how they were intended. The FCA proposed to introduce what’s known in industry jargon as a consolidated tape – a system which [...]
Richard Desmond’s group makes Rothschild allegation in £1.3bn National Lottery dispute Legal A high-stakes legal showdown has kicked off over the Gambling Commission’s handling of the fourth National Lottery licence, as the role of financial advisor Rothschild and its prior ties to the winning bidder take centre stage in court. Media baron Richard Desmond’s group Northern and Shell and its subsidiary, the New Lottery Company, launched legal [...]
Labour’s mixed messages ‘confuses’ UK government procurement September 24, 2025 The UK government’s £400bn procurement budget used to deliver on key policies and projects has been squandered due to Labour’s mixed messaging on its priorities, a new report exclusively shared with City AM has suggested. The state spends billions of pounds a day for public services, with everything from IT software to fighter jets and [...]
How procurement teams are responding to a complex risk environment September 4, 2025 With supply chain disruption, rising prices and pressure to meet ESG and CSR aspirations, it’s more important than ever that organisations have control over how they spend budgets Procurement isn’t what it used to be. Once a behind-the-scenes function focused on reducing costs is now turning into a strategic powerhouse shaping how businesses respond to [...]
What do civil servants really think about the state? July 11, 2025 Civil servants feel stifled by cumbersome processes, weak talent progression and ineffective procurement, according to a new survey that casts doubt on the government’s ability to deliver on the transformative “missions” it’s promised, says Joe Hill The Government took office a year ago pledging to change the country with five big “missions”. This approach was [...]