24 March 2006 | Anusha Bradley

The head of major government IT supplier Capita Group has resigned over allegations a personal loan to the Labour Party resulted in his firm winning work.

Rod Aldridge, founder and chairman of the support services business, denied the allegations but stepped down from his role.

He said in a statement: "There have been suggestions that this loan resulted in the Group being awarded government contracts. This is entirely spurious. Anyone who is associated with the public procurement process would understand that this view has no credibility.

"The Group's reputation is being questioned because of my personal decision to lend money to the Labour Party." A Capita spokeswoman told www.supplymanagement.com Aldridge's decision was a "personal" one and was not made by the company.

Aldridge will continue to serve as non-executive chairman until the firm issues its interim results in July.

Capita is a major supplier to the NHS Connecting for Health IT programme and has multiple contracts with central and local government. This includes work for the Department of Trade and Industry and Department for Work and Pensions. Last month, it was awarded a 10-year BBC HR services contract, beating other shortlisted providers Accenture and Xchanging.

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