11 July 2008
There is 'no compelling evidence' to show that the government's efforts to encourage the third sector to deliver public services is helping to raise standards, according to backbench MPs.
The Commons public administration select committee says that if the government wants to expand the role of the voluntary sector in service provision it needs to show the evidence for the strategy. Until it does, the committee would not support a 'mass transfer of services'.
The PASC's report, Public services and the third sector: rhetoric and reality, published on July 9, also says it is 'unrealistic' to think charities will be able to compete for government contracts on a 'level playing field' with public and private bodies.
Instead, the MPs argue, the government needs to develop an 'intelligent commissioning' approach, under which commissioners fully understand service users' needs and award contracts to the organisations best able to meet them.
Such an approach would allow third sector bodies to play to their strengths, such as being responsive to local needs.
The committee says this new approach will require a culture change across government. They also call for an end to 'perverse practices' such as clawing back surpluses from organisations that deliver services at a lower cost than expected.
Commenting after the report's publication, PASC chair Tony Wright said: 'We've been told for some time that the ideology of public service delivery is that there is no ideology – what matters is what works. So it's strange to discover that nobody seems to know what works.
'That said, the principle must be right that public services are provided by whoever will deliver the best outcomes for service users. Sometimes, that will be an organisation from the third sector. Where it is, commissioners need to be able to identify that fact and act accordingly.'
The report was published two days after the Cabinet Office announced it would review the Compact, an agreement signed in 1998 between the third sector and the government setting out how they would collaborate.
Third sector minister Phil Hope has asked Compact commissioner Sir Bert Massie to undertake the review. It follows complaints from third sector bodies that the commission and the Compact lack teeth, leaving them unprotected in disputes with public bodies.
Massie will consider whether his organisation needs statutory powers to impose sanctions on public bodies that do not adhere to the Compact's provisions.
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