Boris Bikes set to get harder to find as staff stage two-day strike August 11, 2013 BORIS Bike workers last night began a 48-hour strike over pay and conditions, in a move that is set to reduce the number of cycles available on London’s streets. Around 150 staff have refused to work until 9pm tomorrow, meaning there will be fewer drivers to move bikes to areas with high demand. “Staff running [...]
G4S drops bid for tag contract after scandals August 6, 2013 GLOBAL security services firm G4S has dropped out of the bidding for a government electronic tagging contract worth £150m after a scandal over a previous deal. In July, justice secretary Chris Grayling said G4S had overcharged the government by millions of pounds on two previous agreements, tagging people who were already imprisoned or dead. According [...]
Serco confirms new £810m US health contract August 5, 2013 SERVICES company Serco yesterday confirmed that it has been awarded a new contract by the US Department of Health, worth $1.25bn (£810m). The FTSE 100-listed firm will handle applications for a number of insurance affordability programmes including Medicaid services. The contract has a one-year base period valued at around $115m with four further one-year options, [...]
Serco confirms US health services contract worth up to $1.25bn August 5, 2013 Services company Serco Group has confirmed the award of a contract worth up to $1.25bn (£820m) to support the US’s Medicare and Medicaid services. Under the contract, which has a one-year base period valued at around $115m with another four one-year options, Serco will provide processing support for the country’s health benefit exchanges designed to [...]
Boris Bike workers prepare for 48-hour strike over pay dispute August 4, 2013 WORKERS at the Barclays Cycle Hire scheme will go on strike for two days next week, transport union RMT confirmed yesterday. Around 63 workers will join the action, which begins at 9pm on Sunday, lasting 48 hours. The RMT is citing the imposition of a pay rise limited to two per cent, shift pattern changes [...]
Interserve’s boss keen to take outsourcing firm to new heights June 29, 2013 Adrian Ringrose sees fresh opportunities WATCHING the former head of Virgin Galactic give a presentation to Interserve’s top management last year, Adrian Ringrose was struck by the public trust placed in a brand with no track record in a given sector. “You can get people to believe that you really are going to build a [...]
FTSE up on Fed boost February 27, 2013 THE blue chip index rallied this morning, gaining around 0.3 per cent in early deals, as strong sentiment from the US Fed boosted trading. Last night US Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke leapt to the defence of its unprecedented QE programme. A slew of positive earnings updates from large-cap companies also lifted investor sentiment. In [...]
Coalition U-turn on private prisons will undo 20 years of real progress February 22, 2013 THE coalition’s pursuit of competition in healthcare may have grabbed the headlines, but it was the Ministry of Justice that had made the most headway. In 2011, its Competition Strategy set out a “guiding principle” that competition will apply to all services not bound to the public sector by statute. After two decades of limited [...]
Sale of UK air traffic attracts interest from 3i January 27, 2013 LISTED private equity firm 3i has entered the fray to snap up a minority stake in the UK’s air traffic control agency amid an ownership shake up at the air controller, it emerged yesterday. 3i, led by chief executive Simon Borrows, is understood to have registered its interest in bidding for a 12 per cent [...]
Serco wins £100m extension to Docklands Light Railway work January 7, 2013 SERVICES company Serco has won an 18-month extension to its Docklands Light Railway (DLR) contract, worth around £100m, following a landmark summer for the transport system. The extended contract will run from April this year to September 2014 and will involve Serco operating, maintaining and marketing the DLR, which connects the City and the Docklands. [...]