TUC calls for end to outsourcing region's public services

The South West TUC is calling for an end to the outsourcing of the region's public services.

It believes that recent controversies over a range of privatised services will turn the tide against outsourcing.

Private firms delivering health and social care, transport, education, Olympic security, help for the unemployed and council services have been in the news for failings of one sort or another.

Nigel Costley, South West TUC Regional Secretary said: “As this list grows, so the tide is turning against those who believe private profit is the best motive for delivering public services.

“Wherever humans work, they have the capacity to mess up, but a company with shareholder profit as its prime motive will inevitably cut corners to boost returns.

“Value for money will take second place to big salaries for those at the top and squeezed wages for the rest – and at what cost to those who actually use the public services?”

The TUC is today (Friday 16th) holding a seminar in London to bring together academics, trade unionists, researchers and practitioners to discuss how alternatives might form part of a progressive political agenda.

The South West TUC has highlighted certain areas of concern:

Care, where some of the big care home companies proved easy targets for asset-stripping private equity speculators
Health, where the out-of-hours doctors’ service in Cornwall run by Serco (which in 2010 paid its chief executive £3.1m) has been found to have inadequate medics to cope and to have falsified records to cover up their failings
Public transport, where the fragmented private rail network has proved to be more expensive than those under public control and where the promise of cheaper bus fares has not been met
Employment, where private providers such as Working Links, which has offices in Cornwall, Devon and Gloucestershire, been accused of engaging in systemic fraud by its own former chief auditor after adopting a payment-by-results system
Education, where private-sponsored academies are leading to a sharp rise in exclusions and pressure on teachers, with poor families being hit as schools try to reduce free school meals

But the South West TUC believes the tide is turning:

In Somerset, where the county council this year brought back into public ownership the back-room services run for five years at a loss of £31.5m by SouthWest One
In Gloucestershire, where campaigners successfully prevented the transfer of local hospitals and other NHS services out of the NHS
And in Cornwall where councillors threw out their leader after he tried to force through plans to outsource much of its services.

Nigel Costley said: "These decisions show the level of public disquiet at the outsourcing of public services. Councils reflect the views that voters are nervous about losing control of vital public services and that promises made to win contracts may not be delivered."

Twitter: @swtuc