The government’s standards watchdog has declared that outsourcing companies with government contracts must comply with the same ethical standards as the public sector.

The report was published this Wednesday by the committee on standards in public life. It illustrates fears that public sector commissioning bodies, as well as suppliers, often fail to prioritise high standards of conduct.

According to the report, civil servants often assume private bodies’ goals and values to be naturally aligned with the public sector’s. The committee stressed that upholding standards was now more important than ever, as about a third of all taxpayer-funded services are currently being delivered by the private sector.

Back in June, the same committee published a report examining failures by Serco and G4S, both accused of overcharging services to the Ministry of Justice. The earlier report was based on a research commissioned from Ipsos-Mori which concluded, “all providers of public services to adhere to and operate by common ethical standards, regardless of whether those services are provided by the private, public or voluntary sectors”.

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