Carillion Collapse - What would happen to Barnet if the same thing happened to Capita

The collapse of Carillion is the big news story this morning. Private companies are run for profits. In many cases their accounts are a combination of smoke and mirrors. Only last year Carillion were paying generous dividends to shareholders. Their services were held up as an example of how the "private sector was more efficient at delivering services than the public sector". This morning, there are all manner of projects and public services that are in disarray. The most high profile is HS2. It may well be ironic that Capitalism will do to the project what environmental campaigners, Nimby campaigners, local MP's and worried residents could not.

For us in Barnet, it raises a far more worrying question. If Capita, the supplier of choice for a billion pounds worth of council services was to go into liquidation, how would this affect Barnet Councils ability to deliver services and what would be the cost to local taxpayers.

Of course, at the moment, this scenario seems unlikely, but I'm sure the government thought the same when they awarded contracts to Carillion. Does the Council have a contingency plan?

I have asked this in an FoI request this morning

Dear Barnet FoI.

Please can you supply the following.

1. Confirmation that a contingency plan exists in the event of Capita going into liquidation. 

2. Details of such plan, with commercially sensitive information redacted, if this can be provided for less than the FoI cost limit.

3. Confirmation of the date of last planning meeting to discuss such a resileince plan

Regard

Roger Tichborne

It will be interested to see if Barnet Council have a business resilience plan for such an event.