Martyn Hart, Chairman of the National Outsourcing Association (NOA), has commented on the leaked documents between Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude and the Confederation of the British Industry (CBI) which suggest that the government is scaling back plans to use the private sector to deliver public services.

“The National Outsourcing Association (NOA) is interested to learn of the leaked documents suggesting that ‘wholesale outsourcing’ of public services would be ‘politically unpalatable’.

“It’s clear that the jury is still out on how effectively charities and social enterprises can deliver public services, and it would be a surprise if the government is able to achieve the level of cost reduction it is seeking by just using charities and social enterprises, particularly as most of the examples of this we’ve seen of this working already have been small and isolated.

Perhaps this will mean an increased opportunity for service providers to deliver outsourcing in a number of different ways, and we could see more examples of joint ventures and partnerships as a result?

“Nonetheless, it’s clear that apart from outsourcing or shared services the government has few other options and they can still play a significant role in adding value and helping to drive down costs for the public sector. Perhaps the government should work to identify the areas where outsourcing can best add value, and use this as the basis for determining which services are outsourced or shared?”