1000 jobs for the East Riding

Up to 1,000 new jobs will be coming to the East Riding within four years
after councillors gave the go-ahead to plans to set up a Public Private
Partnership between arvato AG and East Riding of Yorkshire Council.

The council and arvato are establishing a partnership which brings together
shared values and visions for the East Riding.  There is a strong
commitment to service quality, customer focus, valuing staff, recognition
of obligations to society and the well being of the community.

The eight year contract will see a regional business centre being built in
the East Riding for the provision of services to the public and private
sectors. arvato AG will also help the council achieve and maintain top 10%
performance in the services which they will be providing, helping to ensure
the council retains 'excellent' status.

The services which are included in the Public Private Partnership employ
some 500 full time equivalent staff in revenues services, financial
assessments, payroll services, creditor payments, ICT services, customer
service centres, print and design, training and occupational health.

arvato have accepted in full the council's service specifications for the
services which will form the agreement and a range of key performance
indicators aimed at maintaining top 10% performance.  Staff will transfer
on their existing terms and conditions and will remain in the East Riding
Pension Fund.  There will be no compulsory redundancies or any redeployment
outside the East Riding.  All council services will continue to be
delivered from council premises.

A Joint Venture Company is also being formed between arvato and the council
to market and promote services in the UK to the public and private sectors
offering the prospect of further job opportunities and investment into the
East Riding.  With strong exclusivity provisions in favour of the council
this offers much promise for the future.

Rolf Buch, board member of arvato AG and Chief Executive Officer of
arvato services, said: "We are delighted that the East Riding of Yorkshire
Council has chosen to partner with arvato. We now look forward to
completing
the contract negotiations with the confidence that, together with the
Council, we
will make a success of the project.

"Our shared goal is to provide residents in the region with first-class
services and
to create employment in the East Riding. For arvato, this represents an
important
milestone in the extension of our services in the UK."

The partnership will enable the council to seize the opportunity created by
arvato's business strategy to enter the UK public sector market with an
excellent council to develop a ground breaking strategic partnership.

Leader of the council, Councillor Stephen Parnaby said on the announcement
of the decision: "From the beginning we were looking for a special
partnership and we have achieved our goal.  All the council objectives for
this project have been achieved in arvato's offer.  The partnership will
help the council meet the challenges posed by the government's drive to
make efficiencies in local authority services as well as securing a
significant inward investment by a major European company with the location
of a regional business centre in the East Riding safeguarding existing jobs
and services as well as bringing new jobs."

The regional business centre offers the prospect for at least 900 jobs
being created in the East Riding, the additional 300 jobs being from the
Joint Venture Company.

Following acceptance of arvato's offer the East Riding would become a
centre of excellence in the UK and a showcase internationally. The
partnership would place the council in a strong position to meet the threat
of a regional business centre being established outside the East Riding
boundary.

Chief Executive Darryl Stephenson said: "This is a ground breaking
partnership offering exceptional potential for the future of the East
Riding. The partnership is about protecting local employment, gaining new
employment and enabling us via the joint venture company to offer services
to the private sector and potential inward investors."

Trade Unions have been consulted regularly throughout the procurement
process and they have recommended to the council that it enters into the
partnership.

arvato AG is one of the world's biggest networked media services providers
with more than 250 subsidiaries in 28 countries, employing over 34,000
people.
It had an annual turnover of around ?3.6 billion in 2003.

Since arriving in the UK in 2000, arvato has created almost 1,000 jobs at
its
state-of-the-art contact centre in Liverpool, providing services for many
household
names such as Microsoft, 3, EDF, Everton FC, Liverpool FC and Miele. It is
also
building a multi-million pound printing facility in South Liverpool which
will create
a further 400 jobs and employs more than 200 people at a distribution
centre in the
West Midlands.









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Notes for Editors

arvato AG is a subsidiary of the multinational Bertlesman Group and
comprises the following divisions: arvato print, which includes MOHN Media,
the maul-belser Media Group, and a number of printing plants in Europe and
the US; arvato direct services, which provides customer loyalty systems and
call centre services (trading as arvato services except in Germany); arvato
logistics services, which provides logistics and supply chain management
services; arvato storage media, which produces items including CD-ROMs,
DVDs and audio CDs; arvato systems, an international vendor of qualified
custom IT services. Additional information about arvato AG is available at
http://www.arvato.com/.

For arvato press enquiries contact Martin Currie, Citypress PR. Tel: 0161
606 0260 or 07976 291532; fax 0161 606 0250; email martin@citypress.co.uk.