INTERVIEWER Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 Fury as families tsar gets £8.6m in one year (and the bulk of it comes from taxpayers) MPs question why firm continued to win contracts despite 'abysmal' record Emma Harrison - who lives in a 20-bedroom 'posh commune' with 11 friends - paid herself huge dividend from A4e The woman appointed by David Cameron to get problem families back into work pocketed £8.6million last year – most of it from the taxpayer. Emma Harrison paid herself the huge dividend from her firm A4e, which makes all its UK income from state contracts. The payout is up 300 per cent on the year before even though MPs say the company’s record on job schemes is ‘abysmal’. Labour’s Margaret Hodge described the fees paid to A4e as ‘an outrage’. Another Labour MP said the dividend was a reward for failure. Mrs Harrison was made ‘families champion’ in December 2010 to advise on getting 120,000 troubled households in work. Her boast that she could find jobs for the long-term unemployed won her a string of lucrative Whitehall contracts. She became even more prominent in the aftermath of last summer’s riots and, in December, the Prime Minister hailed her as an inspiration. 'She has real ambition for these families and I know we can count on her to help drive this campaign forward,’ he said. The dividend is especially embarrassing for Mr Cameron because he has called on firms dependent on taxpayer money to exercise ‘restraint’ at a time of austerity. Labour MP Julie Elliott said: ‘David Cameron claims he believes there should be no such thing as reward for failure. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2099062/Fury-families-tsar-gets-8-6m-ONE-YEAR-bulk-comes-taxpayer.html Over 600 Daily Mail comments so far... 99 per cent negative. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gamezone07 Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 The Star once upon a time would have investigated all this.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Vader Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 Interesting piece on the BBC Lunchtime news on this. Wentworth and Dearne MP, John Healey, rightly speaking on behalf of the taxpayer. The Sheffield A4E offices were featured and the commons committee that scrutinize whether the public purse is getting value, in these times of austerity. The BBC said they had no comment from Emma Harrison, and no one from the A4E offices would comment this morning. Fury as families tsar gets £8.6m in one year (and the bulk of it comes from taxpayers) MPs question why firm continued to win contracts despite 'abysmal' record ... The woman appointed by David Cameron to get problem families back into work pocketed £8.6million last year – most of it from the taxpayer. Emma Harrison paid herself the huge dividend from her firm A4e, which makes all its UK income from state contracts. The payout is up 300 per cent on the year before even though MPs say the company’s record on job schemes is ‘abysmal’. Labour’s Margaret Hodge described the fees paid to A4e as ‘an outrage’. Another Labour MP said the dividend was a reward for failure. Mrs Harrison was made ‘families champion’ in December 2010 to advise on getting 120,000 troubled households in work. Her boast that she could find jobs for the long-term unemployed won her a string of lucrative Whitehall contracts. She became even more prominent in the aftermath of last summer’s riots and, in December, the Prime Minister hailed her as an inspiration. 'She has real ambition for these families and I know we can count on her to help drive this campaign forward,’ he said. The dividend is especially embarrassing for Mr Cameron because he has called on firms dependent on taxpayer money to exercise ‘restraint’ at a time of austerity. Labour MP Julie Elliott said: ‘David Cameron claims he believes there should be no such thing as reward for failure. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2099062/Fury-families-tsar-gets-8-6m-ONE-YEAR-bulk-comes-taxpayer.html Over 600 Daily Mail comments so far... 99 per cent negative. A 300% increase in payout with a record like that! :oAnd all from public money! Mr Blunkett has been keen to speak out on local issues recently, what does he have to say about this? Surely, anyone with an inch of decency would not be taking such a huge increase, but especially with A4E's reputation and track record. After the RBS public uproar, did A4E really think they could get away with this? Or is it a case of grabbing what you can, while you can? I heard yesterday on the news that A4E's own target was 30% success rate, and that in reality it was more like 9%. On that basis, is their any chance that the pubic purse might get a refund of some sort? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alchresearch Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 Fury as families tsar gets £8.6m in one year (and the bulk of it comes from taxpayers) MPs question why firm continued to win contracts despite 'abysmal' record Emma Harrison - who lives in a 20-bedroom 'posh commune' with 11 friends - paid herself huge dividend from A4e While there are questions to answer, I don't think it has anything to do with her living arrangements. I've looked into sharing a huge converted farm with two other friends and their families. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Resident Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 It's a disgrace when you consider that the staff that run these places are desparate for resources to cope with the large influx they having to cope with from the Jobcentre. I, in all honesty don't understand why we have schemes like a4e. If the jobcentre did their job right then there wouldn't be the need. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hard2miss Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 If she is a millionaire Cameron will steer clear of any condemnation of her. He may however instead take away the transport reimbursements that the unemployed people get for having to attend, save the tax payers some money one way or another (that does not affect anyone of stature). All in it together eh David? Yeh right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna B Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 Think about Emma Harrison and her 9 million provided by the taxpayer next time Cameron says we can't afford home helps or social services for the elderly. Why are we putting up with this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mj.scuba Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 I wonder if the behemoths of the private provider-public service sector, Serco and G4S performed any better? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
INTERVIEWER Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 If she is a millionaire Cameron will steer clear of any condemnation of her. Emma Harrison is worth an estimated £70million, according to The Sunday Times rich list. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Vader Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 Emma Harrison is worth an estimated £70million, according to The Sunday Times rich list. And I wonder what her husband's worth and the Thornbridge Brewery? http://www.beer-pages.com/stories/thornbridge.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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