Oops!

Quite an embarrassment for A4e - "Laptop with personal data of 24,000 people is stolen". It's the data from the two A4e-run CLACs in Hull and Leicester, and was on the laptop of an A4e employee stolen in London in a domestic burglary (the laptop, not the employee!) The fact that all that information could be on someone's laptop kept at home is really startling. It's Bob Martin, group chief executive of A4e, who's had to make the apology. "We sincerely apologise to all those affected by this incident. It should not have happened. While we are advised that the risk to clients is low we are taking every precaution to ensure their interests are protected."

Meanwhile, the "framework agreement" has been published by the DWP. It stresses that "organisations are expected to have good financial standing and arrangements that will enable them to manage the risks associated with the delivery of business under this framework agreement. As a minimum, organisations must have the ability to deliver across an entire Lot and manage the financial demands of delivering at least one package of business without undue risk to the specific requesting contracting body." So only the big companies need bother applying.

There's a neat story about the Work Programme on the thisismoney site, which suggests that providers will get a "nominal" sum for those clients they don't get into work. How nominal, one wonders.