Capgemini in Scotland

Capgemini has three offices in Scotland and is active in a range of markets.

Links

Capgemini produces the Quarterly Survey from Scottish Financial Enterprise (SFE) of the financial service industry.Source

Shared Services

In 2006 it became involved in working withe the Scottish Executive on its Shared Services strategy. This involved a consultation to which Capgemini responded and a research and promotional effort which involved the Executive and Capgemini along with two other corporations (Microsoft and LogicaCMG). The research and promotion was carried out by 2Collaborate which lists all four organisations as clients.

Expansion plans

At the opening of their new office in glasgow on 17 August 2006:

John Duncanson, MD for Scotland, reiterated Capgemini’s commitment to Scotland and his plans to double the size of the business over the next three years. “We are already one of the top private employers in Scotland and our ambition remains unfettered. In particular we see Capgemini playing a significant role in Scotland over the next few years particularly in the financial services, energy and utilities, and government and public sectors,” he said.^[1]

conflicts of interest in the NHS?

TROUBLED health helpline NHS 24 spent £17.5m on private management consultants, the vast majority of which went to one firm, a Scotland on Sunday investigation has revealed. Surrey-based CapGemini received an astonishing £14.2m, even though key aspects of the blueprint for setting up NHS 24 turned out to be badly flawed. The investigation has also established that a senior NHS 24 employee failed to register personal interests in CapGemini. And a report by finance watchdog Audit Scotland, also obtained by this newspaper, reveals that NHS 24 chiefs failed to monitor payments to consultancy firms or to ensure they were getting value for money.

... Scotland on Sunday asked, under the Freedom of Information Act, for details of NHS 24's spending on management consultants. The reply shows CapGemini received £14,203,346 for work between 2001 and this year, including "consultation, advice and creation of the original blueprint design for the NHS 24 project", provision of skilled and experienced personnel, IT testing, and programme and technical support. Another 11 firms shared around £3.3m. NHS 24 refused to reveal the name of one of the consultancy firms - paid £49,600 in 2005/06 - on the grounds of "data protection".

...In March, Audit Scotland delivered a report to NHS 24, which reviewed its "Major Procurements". We can reveal it identified:

• NHS 24's extensive use of consultancy firms as creating a risk that "the organisation may be failing to develop the skills of in-house staff";

• How bosses failed to review the work being carried out by consultants to ensure quality of service and value for money;

• That the board of NHS 24 failed to monitor payments to individual consultancy firms;

• How NHS 24 extended its contract with CapGemini on three occasions without opening the extensions to competitive bids, causing one contract to leap in value from £850,000 to £4.1m;

• That NHS 24's director of IT, Dr Graham Dixon, potentially breached NHS 24's code of conduct by failing to declare that his wife worked for CapGemini and that he was himself a former employee. The report states that Dixon was involved in the tendering process in 2002 that awarded CapGemini a £3.2m-a-year contract for programme and technical support over the last two years.

Audit Scotland say the initial failure to register could have left NHS 24 vulnerable to criticism from unsuccessful tenders. Dixon has subsequently added the information and there is no suggestion that he has profited personally from the connection. The Audit Scotland report says one project undertaken by CapGemini was, in its view, unnecessary. The consultants received £185,000 to help deliver the new pay contract for nurses. Audit Scotland states that other NHS bodies had done this using internal resources and it did not represent "value for money". The report states: "NHS 24 makes substantial use of consultancy services. And, as a developing, technology-based organisation, much of this use was clearly appropriate. However, the pattern of repeated contract variation and extension which occurred over the year suggests this option has been seen as a quick and convenient solution."

...One said staff at CapGemini were given control of setting up NHS 24 despite having no experience of the clinical challenges it faced. "Millions of pounds were handed to consultants rather than being invested in the management infrastructure of the service," said the source. "Delivery became time-driven rather than being about delivering proper patient care. The management consultants had no experience of the clinical needs of such a service. In my mind, there should have been better use of the experience that already existed among clinical staff in the NHS."

The comparison with England also calls into question the spending north of the Border. In 2004/05 alone, NHS 24 paid out £3.1m to consultants, with £2.9m going to CapGemini, while figures from the English health helpline NHS Direct show it spent just £760,800 on consultancies.

Last night, NHS 24 insisted there had been no conflict of interest with its staff and those with interests in the firm were not involved in any decisions to award contracts. A spokeswoman insisted that Audit Scotland had concluded the procurement of major contracts had complied with European regulations. She said: "The report made a number of recommendations in relation to the procurement of specialist services by NHS 24. These recommendations have been accepted and are being implemented in full."

The Scottish Executive defended the decision to award the contract to CapGemini. A spokeswoman said: "CapGemini's proposal demonstrated value for money and was based on their reputation in advising on and building call centres throughout the world." A spokesman for CapGemini said there had been "absolutely" no conflict of interest.^[2]

Scottish staff

• John Duncanson, Capgemini Scotland MD
• Mike Greig, Vice President for the Public Sector in Scotland for Cap Gemini Ernst & Young,
• Rosemary Stark, Capgemini Vice President, Financial Services
• Keith Stock, vice-president of consultant Cap Gemini Ernst & Young

Capgemini clients based in Scotland

include

• Scottish Executive, Glasgow City Council, Subsea 7, Aberdeen City Council, Aberdeenshire Council, Scottish Power, British Energy, Lloyds TSB, Student Loans Company and Renfrewshire Council Source

Scottish addresses

Edinburgh

Capgemini UK 36 South Gyle Crescent South Gyle Edinburgh Scotland EH12 9EB

Telephone: +44 (0) 131 339 9339 Fax: +44 (0) 131 200 3700

Glasgow

Capgemini UK 58 Robertson Street Glasgow G2 8DU

Telephone: +44 (0) 141 221 7017 Fax: +44 (0) 141 221 6262

Inverness

Capgemini UK 10 Henderson Road Inverness Scotland IV1 1AU

Telephone: +44 (0) 1463 238 434 Fax: +44 (0) 1463 643 088

Resources

• Steven Uphill, A Shared approach to building a better Scotland - Response to white paper Capgemini response to the Scottish Executive Shared Services Consultation, 31 July 2006

Notes

1. ^ Capgemini Grand unveiling by Leader of Glasgow City Council Steven Purcell of Capgemini's new office in Glasgow city centre Announcements, 14 September 2006.
2. ^RICHARD GRAY HEALTH CORRESPONDENT Sick joke of NHS 24's £17m consultants' cheques Scotland on Sunday Sun 7 May 2006.