Latest news with #publicService
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Outsourcer Capita earmarks cost savings for AI war chest
Capita has outlined plans to reinvest cash saved during recent cut backs into artificial intelligence-powered tech. It came as the outsourcing giant, which administers the BBC licence fee, told shareholders it expects 'broadly flat' sales this year, but with stronger margins thanks to cost cutting efforts. After expanding its cost-cutting target by £90million to £250million last December, Capita said it had now achieved £185million in annualised savings. It is ploughing much of the spare cash into artificial intelligence products, such as the recently established Capita AI Catalyst Lab, which has already identified over 200 use cases across the company. Capita has also become one of the first businesses across Europe to use Salesforce's Agentforce to help recruit new staff more quickly. Adolfo Hernandez, chief executive of Capita, said interest in agentic AI solutions has 'grown exponentially'. He added: 'We are reinvesting a portion of our efficiency savings into new technology solutions, particularly those underpinned by AI, and we are focused on bringing these technology solutions to more clients.' Capita's adjusted turnover declined by 4.5 per cent in the five months ending May. Sales rose by 2.3 per cent in its public service division, thanks to central government work and by 6.4 per cent in the firm's regulated services business, partly due to a one-off termination exit fee. But they slumped by 21.1 per cent in its contact centre arm owing to weaker volumes on telecommunications-related contracts. Nonetheless, the London-based group won £969million worth of contracts during the period, a 24 per cent jump on the same time last year. These included a £97million deal from the Royal Navy to provide training services, a £92.4million extension with Southern Water, and a £107million contract for IT services in Northern Irish schools. Capita is known for managing the London Congestion Charge scheme on behalf of Transport for London and running recruitment campaigns for the British Army. Mark Crouch, market analyst for eToro, said: 'Growth remains elusive, and competitive pressures in public sector outsourcing are intense. But with sentiment at a low base, Capita may now offer contrarian appeal. 'And with early signs of operational discipline and tech investment bearing fruit, investors may want to revisit this long-overshadowed name.' Capita shares were 4.6 per cent higher at 261p on Tuesday morning, taking their gains over the past year to approximately a quarter.
CBC
4 days ago
- General
- CBC
Neighbourhood action teams to fix variety of issues in Winnipeg communities
Social Sharing A new crew of City of Winnipeg workers trained to perform a variety of tasks will spend the next several months fixing problems in neighbourhoods across the city. But rather than sending a crew to do one job, like fill a pothole or trim a tree, the neighbourhood action teams will focus on one area, tackling all service requests, before moving on to the next. It fulfils an election pledge from Mayor Scott Gillingham to create teams of workers capable of taking care of the many smaller issues that often pile up on the city's to-do list. "They're teams that are cross-trained to take care of multiple issues at once, all in one visit," Gillingham said at a news conference in Machray Park, alongside team members and other public works department staff. The program includes three teams of six people, with equipment to perform jobs like filling potholes, fixing broken signs, sidewalk repairs, clearing tree debris, and boulevard maintenance. Priority areas will be determined by a combination of 311 requests, communication with area councillors, consultation with business and community groups, and input from neighbours. Gillingham says if someone sees a crew working on their street, they can report problems directly to the team members, who will take care of it. "It's a smarter, faster way to deliver public service and it puts residents first," Gillingham said. The team has already been working for months, starting over the winter clearing snow around transit stops, and learning to do other things on the job. They plan to rotate through all wards in the city between now and October, spending four weeks in each area, starting with Mynarski, Daniel McIntyre and River Heights-Fort Garry. St. Jonn's neighbourhood resident Tyrone Diese says he thinks the teams will make a more noticeable difference in the appearance of the community. "I think that's a great idea, because at least everything's getting done at once rather than, you know, something gets done here and there [and] it never seems like it is ever finished," he said. Diese has a list of things he'd like to see fixed around his neighbourhood, "Up on the end of the block, there's trees that are actually blocking your view when you're driving … That's dangerous, right? And there's a lot of spots like that." Fixing signs, filling potholes Director of Public Works Jim Berezowsky says they will be there with a number of pieces of equipment to deal with a number of problems at once. "If it's a curb, you might be doing … a minor asphalt repair, and then what you're doing as well is you're scheduling that for more permanency down the road," he said. On top of looking for people who could do a variety of jobs, the city selected team members based on their ability to communicate with community members. Colin Campbell worked as a city arborist for 15 years before joining the team. "I've learned how to work asphalt and do all kinds of other city jobs that weren't in my scope previously," he said in an interview. "I'm fixing signs and things of that nature. It's been a good learning experience." Team co-ordinator Keenan Boles says they've already been out in a few areas and people are coming up to them to point out things that need to be done. "Almost daily … they've heard from at least one resident, whether it be identifying additional issues that they need to be taken care of at the time or even just coming out with commendations and thanking them for the service that they provided because they've been waiting for that service," Boles said. Public works chair Janice Lukes admits it will be a challenge or the teams to get everything done. "Four weeks — we'll never solve all of this, but we can target and hone in and focus on specific areas," she said. The program is expected to cost about $2.7 million a year.
The Independent
7 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
MSP ‘overwhelmed' to become MBE
An MSP has told how she felt 'overwhelmed' when she learned she will become a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE). Pam Duncan-Glancy is recognised in the King's Birthday Honours for years of public and political service. Speaking to the PA news agency, the Labour Glasgow MSP – the first permanent wheelchair user to be elected to the Scottish Parliament and a tireless disability campaigner – said she had learned about the honour in a text from her husband after she had received an email about it. 'I was overwhelmed, to be honest, and could hardly believe what I was reading,' she said. 'I'm really, really proud to have been given this honour for the work that I've done in the community and for disability rights. 'It's a real honour to do this. 'When I got elected as an MSP, I said I was a wee working class woman in a wheelchair. To think that I could be a wee working class woman in a wheelchair who's also got an MBE, I just thought that was pretty special.' While receiving such an honour from the Palace requires discretion, Ms Duncan-Glancy admitted she struggled keeping it all a secret. 'I told my sister, obviously my husband knows and I told my team and a couple of friends, but it was really difficult to keep it quiet,' she said. With just 11 months until the next Holyrood election, the MSP said there is 'loads more' the Scottish Parliament and politics more widely has to do for more disabled people to seek election. 'We need to support people to be active in their communities in the first place,' she said. 'For disabled people, it can often be about giving them help to get out of bed in the morning. 'There's quite a mountain to climb for us to support disabled people to get into politics and it's a mountain we absolutely have to climb, because there should be no space about us, without us. 'We need to do everything we possibly can to get more representation of disabled people, not just in Parliament or councils, but everywhere.' Elected in 2021, Ms Duncan-Glancy has impressed in her first term as an MSP, being given a spot on the Scottish Labour frontbench before even making it to Holyrood, when she was appointed social security spokeswoman by leader Anas Sarwar in the early weeks of his tenure. Before entering politics, she worked in communications for the NHS and campaigned for the rights of disabled people.
The Guardian
12-06-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Bob Morris obituary
My friend and colleague Bob Morris, who has died aged 87, was the oldest among the many volunteers working for the Constitution Unit at University College London, which specialises in constitutional reform, with help from those with inside knowledge of government. He was also by far the longest serving, having worked with us for almost 30 years. His time with the unit was almost as long as his time in the Home Office, where he was a senior civil servant for almost 40 years. He was highly respected and much loved in both roles, for his strong sense of public service, the breadth and depth of his knowledge, and his generosity in sharing it with others. Born in Cardiff, Bob was the son of William Morris, a mechanical engineer, and his wife, Mary (nee Bryant). The family moved according to his father's wartime postings as a marine engineer with the Royal Navy, and Bob went to several schools, including Handsworth grammar in Birmingham. He was old enough to do national service in the South Staffordshire Regiment before going to Christ's College, Cambridge, in 1958 to read history. In his long Home Office career, which began in 1961, he worked variously on crime, policing, security, prisons, immigration and constitutional matters. He was private secretary to two home secretaries, Frank Soskice and Merlyn Rees, and secretary to departmental committees on Northern Ireland, and on UK prisons. He led UK delegations to the EU, the Council of Europe and the UN, and travelled widely on official business. In Bob's final position, as head of the Criminal Justice and Constitutional Department from 1991, he was in charge of relations with Buckingham Palace and the Church. After retiring from the Home Office in 1997, he became acting secretary for public affairs to the archbishop of Canterbury, and secretary to the Review of the See of Canterbury, chaired by Douglas Hurd in 2000-01. He found time to do a PhD on relations between the Metropolitan police and the government, 1860-1920, and started working for the Constitution Unit. There Bob launched a whole new programme of work on church and state. That began with a book and journal articles on disestablishment, and ended with detailed reports on the coronation, and revision of the accession and coronation oaths. That in turn kindled our interest in the monarchy, leading to a comparative study of the other monarchies in Europe, where we explored the paradox that countries like Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden are hereditary monarchies, but are also among the most advanced democracies in the world. Bob was also heavily involved in training government departments and public bodies for the advent of freedom of information. His latest book, published last year, was about the Home Office 1782-2007, and was based on private witness seminars with key participants, which he had organised with the Institute for Contemporary British History. He was steadfast and loyal to all the institutions for which he worked; unfailingly reliable, courteous and considerate, and immensely generous with his time as well as his wisdom and experience. Bob is survived by his wife, Janet (nee Gillingham), whom he married in 1965, their children, Emily, Matthew and Ben, and grandchildren, Isabel, Sally, Joe and Julia.
Yahoo
07-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Why the BBC thinks it can get Labour to give it more funding
Tim Davie struck a gloomy tone when discussing the BBC's finances on Tuesday, as he renewed calls for extra funding. 'I want proper investment and not begrudging, grinding cuts to the BBC, which you've had in the last 10 years, which have just not helped,' the director general said. The timing of his comments was key. Davie is currently locked in talks with ministers ahead of the BBC's Charter renewal in 2027, as he fights for the future of the licence fee. Bosses in W1A acknowledge that the funding model requires reform in the modern media age. But how this will affect the BBC's stretched finances is a critical question as it continues to lose viewers at an alarming rate. The licence fee has existed in some guise since the BBC's launch in 1922, when the government decided the new broadcaster should be publicly funded. This, the corporation says, allows its UK output to remain 'free of advertisements and independent of shareholder and political interest'. While the BBC was initially limited to radio services, the first combined radio and TV licence was issued in 1946 for £2. Fast-forward to the 21st century and the BBC has transformed from a fledgling broadcaster into a public service behemoth. Income from the licence fee stood at £3.7bn last year, a significant chunk of the UK's entertainment and media market, which is valued at around £100bn by PwC. However, this scale does not tell the full story. With the emergence of streaming rivals such as Netflix and Disney, as well as social media platforms such as YouTube and TikTok, the BBC is facing an identity crisis. While the public service broadcaster continues to dominate the UK media space – around 86pc of adults consume its services each week, according to the latest Ofcom figures – it is losing ground. This is particularly acute among 16 to 24-year-olds, who spend just 5pc of their in-home video time with the BBC, compared to the 23pc for over-35s. Waning interest has meant lower income as viewers vote with their feet. The number of households paying the licence fee dropped to 23.9m last year – a 500,000 fall that sucked £80m from the BBC's budget. The figure is 2.3m lower than the peak of 26.2m between 2017 and 2019. Cost is likely to be a factor. At £174.50 per year, the licence fee comes in at around £14.50 a month. That compares to £5.99 a month for Netflix's ad tier, or £12.99 for its standard ad-free service. Disney charges £4.99 with ads and £8.99 without. While the BBC argues it offers good value for money given the breadth of its service, this is unlikely to win over apathetic youngsters who consider Auntie irrelevant. The fall in licence fee payers is not the only driving force behind the BBC's squeezed finances, however. Over the last 15 years, repeated government interventions have taken their toll. In 2010, George Osborne announced the licence fee would be frozen for seven years at £145.50. Nadine Dorries, the former culture secretary, then froze the levy again in 2022, even as inflation surged. The fee will now increase in line with inflation until the end of the Charter in 2027, but only after another Tory culture secretary, Lucy Frazer, stepped in to prevent a 9pc – or £15 – rise amid concerns it would fuel the cost of living crisis. Adding further strain to the budget, the government in 2015 forced the BBC to take over the cost of providing free licence fees to the over-75s, while it also handed over the main burden of funding the World Service. Analysis shows that government interference, coupled with a decline in licence fee payers, amounts to a real-terms decrease of around 30pc – or £1.4bn – in the broadcaster's domestic funding over the last 15 years. The question, then, is how to plug the gap. Davie has been wielding the axe on both staff and programming as he seeks to strip £700m from the BBC's annual budget. Yet this whittling down of resources has fuelled anger and concern about the impact on the quality of the broadcaster's output, with spending on new shows poised to fall by £150m this year. The BBC has also ramped up enforcement of the licence fee, with 41m warnings sent out in the 2024 financial year – an increase of almost 13pc year on year. Another method championed by Davie, the former BBC Studios boss, is to boost the broadcaster's commercial income to help balance the books. Measures so far have included taking full control of BritBox International, the BBC's joint streaming venture with ITV, after buying out its rival for £225m. The BBC has also struck a co-production deal with Disney to air Doctor Who overseas, worth an estimated $100m (£73m). But other schemes, such as its plan to run adverts around radio and podcast output, have been scrapped in the face of fierce opposition from commercial rivals. Despite its bold aims, the BBC's commercial income fell to £1.7bn last year from just under £2bn the year before. Overall, the BBC is forecasting a £33m deficit for the coming year. While this is down from the eye-watering £500m shortfall the previous year, it highlights the ongoing strain on the corporation's finances. It is against this precarious backdrop that the BBC has entered discussions with the Government. Ministers have made it clear, however, that reform, or even scrapping, of the licence fee is top of the agenda. While the licence fee is now lower as a proportion of average household income – 0.46pc last year compared to 0.64pc in 2012 – the levy is facing scrutiny in a world where viewers have a plethora of entertainment options. What's more, the licence fee is regressive, with poorer households paying more relative to their income and women disproportionately prosecuted for not paying. So if the licence fee were to be scrapped, what could take its place? One option is replacing it with a subscription model, similar to those of streaming services. However, critics have warned that such a move risks undermining the BBC's ability to serve its audiences and would limit the scope of its output. 'A subscription funding model would be antithetical to the BBC's public service mission, necessarily ending universality of access and undermining its breadth of content,' said analysts at Enders Analysis. Similarly, funding the BBC through advertising has been viewed as a non-starter as it would draw too much money away from the commercial TV and radio sector. Both Davie and Samir Shah, the BBC chairman, have pushed to retain the licence fee with reforms, acknowledging the shortcomings of a regressive flat tax. But what would this look like? Lisa Nandy, the Culture Secretary, has pushed back against the idea of funding the BBC through general taxation, saying it would leave the broadcaster exposed to political interference. Another option is a household tax similar to the one used in Germany. This would boost the BBC's income by widening the payment of the licence fee to all households, rather than just those who use its services. It could also be linked to council tax bands, creating a more progressive system where wealthier households pay more. Other options under consideration include linking the levy to broadband bills – a measure that would take on particular relevance as Britain prepares to switch off terrestrial TV and move to a streaming-only model. It is thought that any of these reforms would reduce the rate of evasion, though ministers will no doubt be reluctant to introduce new taxes, especially in light of the upcoming spending review. In a speech last month, Davie said: 'When it comes to funding, we are not asking for the status quo. We want modernisation and reform. But in doing so, we must safeguard universality.' Alternatively, as the BBC's Charter comes up for renewal, ministers could opt for a bolder rethink. The corporation retains its Reithian principles – named after John Reith, the first director-general – to inform, educate and entertain. But in the modern age, does the BBC still need to be all things to all people? Some industry watchers note that the BBC could drop some of its more peripheral services, such as its education unit Bitesize. BBC bosses are themselves alive to this possibility, and the broadcaster in March launched its largest ever public survey to ask audiences what they want from the broadcaster in the future. A more radical view espoused by a number of industry bigwigs is a merger between the UK's public service broadcasters. Sir Peter Bazalgette, the former chairman of ITV, says: 'There's no doubt in my mind that there ought to be mergers between domestic broadcasters, not just in England, but right across Europe, in order for those broadcasters to survive and have big enough businesses in their streaming services.' Speaking at a conference in London this week, Wayne Garvie, Sony Pictures' international boss, said: 'We've got five public service broadcasters in Britain. The rest of the world might have one. 'It is unsustainable and the future has got to be, surely, Channel 4 and the BBC coming together.' The idea of slimming down the BBC or combining it with its rivals will no doubt rankle supporters who view the universality of access as a key tenet of its purpose. But as competition grows and audiences continue to defect, it is clear the status quo cannot continue. Instead of trying to do more with less, it may be time for the public service broadcaster to simply do less. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
