Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 13 February 2018 to Question 126471, on Capita, which contractual obligations Capita has with his Department (a) do and (b) do not flow down to subcontractors.

In line with Cabinet Office best practice and the provisions contained within the contract, Capita are obliged to flow down all terms to their approved subcontractors, unless otherwise agreed with the Authority.

In the case of the Bridge contract there is a more stringent service level between the MoJ and Capita than Capita and its subcontractor, G4S. Procedures are in place to manage this discrepancy and the MoJ does not receive a lower level of service for agreeing this.

Under the Capita subcontract with Vodafone as part of the Electronic Monitoring and Field Services Contract, Capita and MoJ agreed an exemption from the obligation to flow down terms in relation to maintenance timescales, however this does not impact Capita’s obligations to MoJ or the service it provides.

While it is best practice to flow down all terms there are instances where doing so proves unrealistic and counterproductive. The decision to waive this obligation is made on the basis of risk and cost to all parties.