Thursday newspaper round-up: Flybe, NMC Health, Andrew Bailey
Flybe, Europe’s largest regional airline, has collapsed into administration less than two months after the government announced a rescue deal. The impact of the coronavirus on flight bookings proved the last straw for the Exeter-based airline, which operates almost 40% of UK domestic flights, as the government stalled on a controversial £100m loan. - Guardian
The government regularly ignores its own outsourcing guidelines brought in to prevent a repeat of the Carillion collapse, according to a report by an influential Whitehall thinktank. Several government departments have not updated internal policies on outsourcing to match the “outsourcing playbook” published after Carillion’s failure, meaning private companies were still being awarded contracts that were too risky for them to handle, the Institute for Government (IfG) said. – Guardian
Embattled private hospital company NMC Health has been forced to apologise to staff who have still not been paid nine days after their salaries were due. NMC, whose shares have been suspended since 27 February amid confusion around the ownership of the business and the state of its debts, was supposed to pay staff in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) their February salaries last week. In a letter to employees, seen by The Daily Telegraph, acting chief executive Michael Davis apologised for the "payroll issue" and said the firm hoped to have a solution soon. – Telegraph
Andrew Bailey has said there is “no basis” for claims made in a High Court case in which the City regulator has been accused of covering up the true causes of a computer failure at Royal Bank of Scotland. The outgoing chief executive of the Financial Conduct Authority is a defendant in a legal case in Northern Ireland in which it is claimed that RBS’s systems broke down in 2012 because of a botched attempt to “destroy evidence” related to the mis-selling of interest rate swaps to small and medium-sized businesses. – The Times
A public war of words has broken out between members of the Barclay family over the value of The Ritz hotel. In a rare public statement, Sir Frederick Barclay has warned that he will take legal action against Aidan Barclay, the son of his twin brother Sir David, and other members of the family if the hotel on Piccadilly in central London is sold for less than £1 billion. – The Times