Fears for public services quality

PUBLIC services are suffering because the Government is prioritising cost over quality when outsourcing work to the private sector, a report found.

The collapse of Carillion has laid bare flaws in how the £250billion of contracts are awarded to the private sector each year, according to the Commons public administration committee.

It found that the

Government’s priority was ‘spending as little money as possible while forcing contractors to take unacceptable levels of financial risk’ rather than delivering value for money. Public confidence had been shaken by the collapse of outsourcer Carillion, it added. A Government spokesman said ministers were ‘committed to’ sustaining a diverse marketplace of companies bidding for contracts.

‘Spending little’