Friday 10 February 2012

Emma gets the Daily Mail treatment

The unemployed are used to it.  Being demonised by the Daily Mail is something you have to put up with if you're out of work.  But today the paper turns its fire on Emma Harrison, following the Public Accounts Committee hearing.   "Fury as families tsar gets £8.6m in one year (and the bulk of it comes from taxpayers)" is the headline.  And the focus is on money.  She "pocketed £8.6m", which was up 300 per cent on the year before".  Margaret Hodge is quoted as saying it's an outrage.  There's an insert on Thornbridge Hall, her home, and we're told that, "She is now worth an estimated £70million, putting her at 968 on The Sunday Times rich list. A4e is worth £80million, with her stake put at £68million."  There is then a write-up of the committee's proceedings, and the response of Andrew Dutton.  The article has no less than 4 photos of Ms Harrison, a signal that they're targeting an individual.  Last night A4e put out a statement saying that their performance was better than the industry average.  


I doubt it will bother Harrison too much.  Two days ago she was at a charity reception at 10 Downing Street.  And don't they say, "all publicity is good publicity"?



12 comments:

  1. Emma may well have been able to attend the charity event at No 10 which from her Twit was a"No 10 reception last night for Dressed for Success charity. Business Outfits and confidence for women looking for work. Inspiring.”! Certainly a worthwhile cause! However that was held prior to the article, fortunately for her.

    "Last night A4e put out a statement saying that their performance was better than the industry average." That response is pathetic

    So what happens now after her “dressing down”? I assume she can continue to make her millions until the contracts expire. Will they be renewed? Will the Coalition government incur the wrath of voter? These and many questions will be answered (hopefully) in the upcoming episodes of “Soap” (For the benefit of younger Followers, “Soap” was a wonderful Americain television comedy series from the 70s)

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  2. Perhaps they are seeing that the owners of a4e are there to make a profit, rather than them helping society as most chartiable or not for profit organisations would do. we can but hope the tide will turn for a4e.

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  3. Someone left a comment about A4e's role as a contractor for direct payments for social care. If that person would post again with their email address (I won't publish it, of course) I would like to talk to them directly.

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  4. I COMPLAINED TO ALL PARTY LEADERS LAST YEAR ABOUT A4E AND THE LACK OF RESULTS.
    I KNOW A COUPLE OF PEOPLE WHO COMPLAINED TO THE JOB CENTRE ABOUT THE COURSE OR SHOULD I SAY THE LACK OF COURSE.NO INTEREST THERE.
    IT CONSISTED OF LOTS OF PEOPLE IN ONE ROOM FOR SEVERAL WEEKS WHO WERE SHARING A COUPLE OF COMPUTERS AND A COUPLE OF NEWS PAPERS TO DO JOB SEARCHES.
    I SAID THE ONLY PEOPLE WHO WERE GAINING WERE A4E FINACIALLY. ITS A DISGUSTING WASTE OF GOVRNMENT MONEY.

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  5. and she gets a right pasting in the comments - all this from predominantly Daily Heil readers - who'd have thunk it??

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  6. I have contacted Newsnight as suggested in one of the comments! Fingers crossed!

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  7. From A4e's site concerning the slating of thier poor performance:

    "4e responds to correct inaccurate comments made by MPs
    Posted on February 9, 2012 by admin

    A4e responds to correct inaccurate comments made by MPs during PAC hearing into Work
    Programme

    The Public Accounts Committee hearing on Work Programme yesterday included a number of
    factual inaccuracies we wish to clarify.

    A4e performance as a welfare to work contractor

    Some committee members referred to our early performance figures in the previous Pathways to
    Work contract without looking at performance during the life of the contract. They also confused
    A4e performance with another contractor, whose performance level was significantly lower at that
    early stage.

    The facts are that across the industry providers underperformed against the challenging target
    set for getting those on this programme into work. A4e secured jobs for 24.2% of those on the
    programme over its lifetime; exceeding the industry average of 23%.

    Working with our charity partner Lifeline

    Lifeline is a partner to A4e on the Work Programme in East London and are charged a 12.5%
    management fee per person referred to them by A4e (Lifeline receive £350 of £400 attachment fee
    per individual)

    The claim made by Margaret Hodge MP during the Public Accounts Committee hearing on 8th
    February that A4e passed on only £300 of the £400 attachment fee to Lifeline is therefore incorrect

    Lisa Webb, Lifeline Deputy Chief Executive, stated

    ‘It is unfortunate that this misunderstanding has occurred. We have a very positive relationship
    with A4e. We are seeing well above the estimated level of referrals coming from them. We regard
    the management fee as entirely fair or we would not have signed up to the contract with A4e. In
    particular we are seeing real benefit from the relationship given the link between A4e’s National
    Employer Service and large companies who are recruiting on a national scale.’

    Andrew Dutton, A4e Chief Executive added:

    ‘We know that our management fee is one of the lowest in the industry. It’s unfortunate that
    this misunderstanding provides a distraction from the work we are all doing as Work Programme
    providers to help thousands of people into work, and in particular the very positive relationship we
    have built with partners like Lifeline who are supporting that delivery’."

    When A4e say they secured jobs for %24.2% (still low), what do they mean exactly? Do they mean sustainable work that does not end in a months timeor less? Beating a low 23% industry average ain't anything to crow about either!

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  8. And what about Emma's £8 million? That's eight times more than Fred Goodwin's bonus ..... Mamma mia! Why is this not featured in news programmes?

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  9. A4e East Midlands have just made their 6 community services managers redundant. One of them said the company had only created the roles because they thought there would be extra money available

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  10. But is that £8 Million ontop of a wage she gets from a4e?

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  11. A4e currently await news of OLASS4 bids for prison education, current publicity will not be good news for them. They want to increase their provision, taking college staff out of public sector (not for profit) provision to making more money to boost Emma's dividend bonus. Shameful waste of public money for a deteriorating service.

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