AIRSPRUNG BEDS

Airsprung Beds Limited,
Canal Road Industrial Estate,
TROWBRIDGE,
Wiltshire.
BA14 8RQ

LATEST NEWS: HAS CAPS FOUND A SECRET SUBSIDY?

Recently it came to our attention that the actual transport costs incurred by SPS Industries when they move the divan bed frames they make for Airsprung at HMP Shotts from there to the Fauldhouse depot may be much larger than the costs allowed for in the unit price for each bed frame.

Apparently, for the 2 main items that SPS Industries currently supply to Airsprung, the half drawer base and the platform divan base, they get £4.00 and £2.00 respectively. And, according to our 'sources', the cost of the average lorry from Shotts to Fauldhouse, a distance of approximately 7km as the crow flies or 9.5km by the most direct route [and it would be really difficult to go by any other route, check it for yourself], is about £160 for a load of 100 bed frames i.e. £1.60 per bed frame.

Now our 'sources' also tell us that the 'official' cost per bed frame is only 30p - of course we have to take it on trust from these previously perfectly reliable 'sources' as SPS Industries claim that the 'official' costs "are subject to 'the public interest test'" and as such will not be disclosed in response to out Freedom Of Information Act requests because "this information may have a detrimental commercial impact on the company."

A number of questions spring to mind here:
1] Why is there such a large disparity between the costs claimed by our 'sources' for the 100 bed frame load and the contract price of 30p? Now our 'sources' may be wrong, but if our FOI requests continue to be stonewalled and we are unable to check the 'facts' directly, we have to go with, as we say, our previously perfectly reliable 'sources'.
2] If these figures are correct then who stands to profit from this situation and who is the sucker in this distinctly dubious arrangement? The answer to the first part is obvious, an under pressure SPS Industries keeps a high profile contract, justifies its continuing existence and a lot of well-paid bureaucrats keep their jobs. The answer to the second part is the Scottish taxpayer.
3] Why is it in the public interest for the details of the contract not to be disclosed? Clearly its in the interest of the people that negotiated this contract and continue to keep the details secret. And it is also in the interest of Airsprung Beds that these details are not disclosed, but we wonder just how much they actually know about all this.

SPS Industries claim, in response to our FOI requests, that they would incur more than the £600 threshold for costs set out under the Freedom Of Information Act to established an estimate for the actual costs for the transport of each bed frame from HMP Shotts to the Fauldhouse depot. They also claim that because they use a number of different contractors, who carry loads of various different sizes and various different mixes of the 2 bed frame types and, by implication via different routes, they cannot possibly collate these figures cheaply enough, even if they wanted to.

Clearly SPS Industries established a figure with potential transport contractors prior to their negotiation of the original contract between themselves and Airsprung Beds. That SPS Industries are singularly unable to extract this notional figure from the details of the contract and also establish the current actual costs incurred, even given the 'reasons' put forward by the officers of SPS Industries as to why they are unable to comply, is difficult to understand.

Yes, a number of separate transport contractors are involved and the composition transported varies as to the percentages of the 2 bed frame models involved, as well as the size of loads. However, any commercial operation would be extremely remiss in their responsibilities to their shareholders, or in SPS Industries' case the tax payers, if they did not have some rudimentary understanding of the contribution of an essential part of their commercial costs and therefore the overall price of such an important element of their business. No business worth its salt is going to employ transport contractors that can charge a price for a service without regard to some form of on-going auditing of that price or to the originally negotiated price or even to which companies will be able to provide the best unit-cost price.

Maybe all the claims of non-disclosure due to financial confidentiality are just that? Or maybe they are actually meant to hide what seems to be some commercially dubious practices?

We at CAPS leave it up to you to determine from the 'facts' as we understand them and as we have presented them. However, if this picture is as close to the real situation as we think it is, then SPS Industries' contract with Airsprung Beds amounts to a hidden subsidy of a private company with Scottish taxpayers money.

We will keep you abreast of any developments and see if the Scottish Information Commissioner can or wants to get more information out of SPS Industries than we have up till now.

LIFE IS NOT ALL A BED OF ROSES WITH AIRSPRUNG BEDS FOR THE POOR CONS THAT HAVE TO WORK IN THE SPS WORKSHOPS, KNOCKING UP THEIR BED FRAMES.

AIRSPRUNG have had a wonderful deal with SCOTTISH PRISON SERVICE INDUSTRIES for a number of years now. They ship up the raw materials for their bed frames from their Wiltshire depot to the SPS FAULDHOUSE depot. From there, the materials go to HMP SHOTTS and are then made up into the basic AIRSPRUNG divan bed frame design. SPS charge them £2.00 - £3.50 for each bed frame constructed. They then transport them back to the FAULDHOUSE depot, where AIRSPRUNG lorries pick them up and transport them back to their Wiltshire factory. The frames are then fitted with drawers (depending on the design of frame) and covered with fabric by AIRSPRUNG's own workers. They are then sold for hundreds of pounds (including a mattress). To give you some idea of the mark-up, the Airsprung Duplex Memory Foam Supreme Divan 4 Drawer retails for £349.99 at ARGOS and is equipped with a mattress than can retail for up to £169.99.

And how much does the average prisoner earn for the privilege of working for AIRSPRUNG BEDS? They can earn up to £14.40 a week at STATUS 2 within the SPS 6 tier PRISONERS WAGES SCHEME on what are called the WORKSHOP EFFICIENCY SCHEMES. To earn this they have to "agree to attend work without any of the normal disruptions associated with prison life e.g. there is no time off during the day for visits or physical education. prisoners also agree to be drug free" and to undergo mandatory random drug testing "and to participate in the scheme to the best of their abilities." Within STATUS 2 there are 3 separate standards attainable, based on levels of experience and 'flexibility', with different pay rates. STANDARD A rates £14.40-£13.20 maximum for 10 full sessions [usually 3.5 hours each but up to a maximum 5 hours] per week, STANDARD C £12.00-£10.80. Otherwise, prisoners will be on the STATUS 4 rate, which is as little as £6.60-£5.40 for the STANDARD C rate and up to £9.00-£7.80 for STANDARD A. STATUS 4 prisoners are of course considered to be of lower productive value. However, it should be noted that, according to SPS's own figures, prisoners spend only approximately 22 hours per week in Prison Workshops.

Needless to say, places in the workshop are limited and the chances of getting one without committing to join the WORKSHOP EFFICIENCY SCHEME are negligible. So AIRSPRUNG get their beds frames made by people who work 40 hours a week to be paid only 3-4 times what AIRSPRUNG pay SPS per bed. Which itself is about the cost of the average pint of beer or about half an hours worth of telephone calls at the inflated rates charged on the prison pin phone system.

And what of the training value that the bed frame workshops provide? A recent article in Big Issue Scotland [see CAPS NEWS] was prompted by a letter from an inmate at HMP SHOTTS working in the workshop. He complained at length about his lack of prospects when he leaves prison as he "has not gained any employable skills through the menial labour" he carries out in the workshop. He also highlighted the fact that some prison officers are "fed up" with knowingly producing goods for private companies.

Given all this, we here at CAPS wonder how the DIRECTORS and SHAREHOLDERS of this company can sleep at night tucked up cosily in their AIRSPRUNG BEDS whilst the poor cons that they exploit, making bed frames for a mere few pence an hour in the prison workshops, try and sleep on their thin hard mattresses after their hard days work.

AIRSPRUNG'S LATEST BED MODEL

The company contact is:
STEVE DISNEY
FAX: 01225 779122
Email: steve.disney@airsprungbeds.co.uk

or contact SPS:
william.pretswell@sps.gov.uk -
FINANCE DIRECTOR
SCOTTISH PRISON SERVICE HQ
CALTON HOUSE
5 REDHEUGHS RIGG
EDINBURGH
EH12 9HW
tony.simpson@sps.gov.uk - HEAD OF PRISON INDUSTRIES
above address
paula.arnold@sps.gov.uk - DEPUTY HEAD OF PRISON INDUSTRIES
same address
anthony.apperley@sps.gov.uk - HEAD OF SALES
TEL: 01501 773978
FAX: 01501 771835