Re Contract

Capita Group PLC
25 July 2002

25 July 2002

                              THE CAPITA GROUP PLC

Capita forms unique partnership with four local authorities in Wales to deliver
                  £83 million of transport infrastructure contracts
                    and build a key business base in the region

Capita has formed a unique partnership with four local authorities in South
Wales to support transport infrastructure initiatives and deliver professional
support services across the region.  Capita has formed a new company with four
local authorities, Monmouthshire, Torfaen, Blaenau Gwent and Caerphilly, in
South Wales.  The four authorities are contracting with the new company for ten
years to provide services worth an estimated £83 million.

Capita will own 51% of the new venture and is investing £1 million in
consideration for acquiring its shareholding.  The new venture will be jointly
owned by Capita and the four authorities and assumes the business and assets of
the Gwent Consultancy, a transport infrastructure business presently owned by
five unitary authorities (the four new joint owners and Newport) in South East
Wales.

Commenting on the new partnership, Rod Aldridge, Executive Chairman of the
Capita Group Plc said:

'Capita is delighted to be involved in this unique partnership and to be
investing in developing business and job opportunities in Wales.  This
represents the first successful joint procurement with authorities of different
political persuasion working closely together across historic boundaries to gain
benefits for their communities.  Our strategy will be to create a substantial
infrastructure consultancy and professional support services centre from a new
base in South Wales.  The team has considerable experience of transport
management, an area of business where we are already one of the top 10 providers
and one that offers considerable potential for the Group.

This venture also provides us with an opportunity to extend our full offering of
professional support services to both public and private sector organisations in
Wales, an area where we have limited penetration at present.  We believe that
the region is an area of major growth for the Group, particularly in the public
sector where sector spend has recently increased from a current £9.4 billion to
£11.8 billion in three years time, as part of the Comprehensive Spending 
Review.'

The Secretary of State for Wales and MP for Torfaen, Paul Murphy, is delighted
with the agreement to pursue the Joint Venture. He commented,

'The Government has always intended public and private sectors to work together,
learning from each other's experience and drawing on each other's strengths.  I
am sure that both the local authorities and Capita will find enormous benefits
and opportunities as well as some challenges as they put this unique partnership
into effect.'

Clive Grace, Chief Executive of Torfaen County Borough Council commented,

'What this Joint Venture Partnership will give us is substantially increased
capacity, access to wider markets and greater innovation. It will provide a
strong foundation for growth and make a significant contribution to the Welsh
economy. I am delighted that we have been able to arrive at such a strong
partnership with a private sector company of this standing. It really does show
that local authorities can be at the forefront of innovation and improvement in
the UK, leaders not followers, as we respond to change in the interests of the
people we serve.'

Gwent Consultancy is a successful public sector organisation that has developed
and implemented major engineering projects with the Gwent local authorities and
the Welsh Assembly  (previously with the Welsh Office) since local government
reorganisation. However, in a rapidly changing environment where the
Government's modernising agenda is challenging conventional approaches the
organisation needed to move forward or lose its position. New types of work
requiring a greater range of disciplines meant that a new kind of company was
needed, to survive and serve communities well in a modern market.  The
partnership with Capita will meet these challenges, widening the scope for
future involvement in major infrastructure schemes and other business areas,
securing the existing 200 skilled staff and bringing new, high quality jobs to
the area.

Gwent Consultancy has already secured the project management of a portfolio of
PFI schemes, including the largest local authority PFI Scheme in Wales, namely
the Newport Southern Distributor Road. Another project is the ground-breaking
£5.6 million Llanhilleth Area Regeneration Project in Blaenau Gwent.   This
integrated project combines the historic Llanhilleth Workmen's Institute and a
new school with community lifelong learning facility, a healthy living centre,
new infrastructure, business property development and environmental projects.

The new venture is planned to come into effect from 1st September 2002 and will
be managed through a Board of Directors comprising representatives of Capita and
the four local authorities.

                                     -ENDS-

For further information:

The Capita Group Plc                                        020 7799 1525
Rod Aldridge, Executive Chairman
Paul Pindar, Chief Executive
Shona Nichols, Group Marketing Director
Capita Press Office                                         020 7544 3141

Torfaen County Borough Council                              01495 766069
Sue Morgan, Principal Communications Officer
[e-mail]

Issued by:                                                  020 7251 3801
Finsbury PR
Morgan Bone/ Mark Harris

Notes for Editors

The Capita Group Plc is a leading provider of integrated professional support
service solutions. The Group's service capabilities encompass customer services,
insurance services, human resource services, software services, systems and
strategic support and property services delivered to both public sector and
private organisations. With 16,000 people at over 160 UK sites, Capita is quoted
on the London Stock Exchange and is a FTSE 100 company with estimated revenues
for 2002 of £895 million. In November 2001 Capita was awarded the Management
Today Most Admired Business Services Company Award.

Gwent Consultancy was established in 1996 as an arms length local authority
consultancy to serve the five constituent Unitary Authorities in Greater Gwent
and the Welsh Office, as agent for the motorway and trunk road network in South
East Wales.  Gwent Consultancy has since substantially expanded its skill base
and client portfolio and is now a major supplier of civil engineering,
transportation and environmental consultancy advice to clients across South
Wales and further afield. The Consultancy is unique in having the broadly based,
highly developed technical skills and knowledge of a local authority, combined
with management and commercial skills from the private sector.

Gwent Consultancy is able to offer a full range of technical and engineering
skills and knowledge essential for the successful implementation of projects of
this nature. These encompass such services as:

Project Management and PFI
Highway & Structural Engineering
Integrated Transport Planning
Regeneration
Environmental Services
Geotechnical design
Materials Testing Laboratory
Construction Management and procurement
Road Safety Engineering & Education
Health & Safety Management
Technical Training and Facilitation


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