Archive for the tag 'Privatisation'

Yesterday my colleagues at Cosford learned that they had a won a long campaign to stop the privatisation of Defence Training.
In a ministerial announcement it was revealed that it had become necessary to terminate the DTR procurement and Metrix’s appointment as Preferred Bidder because an affordable solution was not forthcoming within the time frame required:
DTR [...]

6 Comments CherryPie on Oct 20th 2010

At this years annual conference the Public & Commercial Services Union (PCS) launched a booklet that provides information on the threats and consequences of privatising public services.  The document builds on  a series of forums that took place during 2009/10.
These forums examined and exposed many past failures of the privatisation of public services and made [...]

10 Comments CherryPie on Sep 2nd 2010

Myth 6 “Back-office” functions can be outsourced without impacting on front-line services
REALITY Support functions are just as important as the front-line
In a recent document called “Doing More with Less” the CBI claims that ’sharing back office functions can improve efficiency” and that ‘non-core activities are best provided by the private and third sectors unless [...]

2 Comments CherryPie on Apr 14th 2010

MYTH 4 The private sector is more responsive to service users’ individual needs
REALITY Only the public sector can respond to society’s collective needs
Public sector reforms are often based on the idea that public service users should be treated as consumers. In many cases, this focus is both appropriate and necessary. For instance, the [...]

4 Comments CherryPie on Apr 12th 2010

MYTH 3 Competition is the best way to improve public services
REALITY Public Services are too important to compete on price
The imposition of competition and markets in the public sector means driving a wedge between client and contractor roles and usually results in the restriction of in-house delivery. Local authorities, NHS Trusts and other public [...]

4 Comments CherryPie on Apr 10th 2010

MYTH 2 The private sector costs less than the public sector to deliver services and is more efficient
REALITY There is no evidence to show that the private sector is more efficient than the public sector
In the pursuit to do ‘more for less’ the argument is often heard that the private sector can run services better [...]

2 Comments CherryPie on Apr 8th 2010

MYTH  1  During the economic downturn, the best way to save money is to privatise public services
REALITY During the downturn, public money is best kept within the public sector
As the public sector faces pressure to squeeze spending, politicians, commentators and contractors have called for more public services to be transferred to the private and voluntary [...]

2 Comments CherryPie on Apr 8th 2010

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