By Richard Johnstone | 26 October 2011
Opposition to the government’s public sector reform plans is strong among both the general public and the workforce, the Trades Union Congress has warned.
Publishing its response to the coalition’s Open public services white paper today, the TUC says that there is a gap between the paper’s Big Society ideals and the reality of greater private sector involvement.
David Cameron launched the white paper in June saying that the government would ensure competition was ‘the default in our public services’. He said the state would have ‘to justify why it makes sense to run a monopoly’ without competition from private companies or charities.
However, the TUC says that voluntary sector organisations lost out in an early example of the government’s competition plans. Thirty-five of the 40 main contracts awarded under the government’s Work Programme went to large private businesses such as Serco and A4e, despite ministers saying that it would create more opportunities for the voluntary sector.
The congress also criticises plans for employee-led public sector mutuals. It says, for example, that 95% of the staff of civil service pensions administrator MyCSP oppose plans to turn it into a joint venture led by employees. The Cabinet Office has hailed the move as the ‘first major "spin out" of a central government service giving employees the opportunity to take a stake in their business’.
The TUC’s submission also argues that the general public is strongly opposed to the increased use of private sector companies in public services. While people value choice, it says, a majority oppose private businesses running hospitals (57% of those asked in the British Social Attitudes survey in 2009) and schools (55%).
TUC general secretary Brendan Barbersaid: ‘We know that public services need to keep track with changing times, but handing over large slices of services to private business does nothing but undermine accountability, local responsiveness and choice.’
He instead called for reform based on ‘collaboration between the public sector, voluntary groups and charities, which invests in modern, flexible services that remain publicly owned, are accountable to service users and benefit the whole community’.
Barber added: ‘It’s clear that the reforms being implemented by this government have little to do with charities or voluntary providers.’
The government has said it will set out plans to implement the changes proposed in the white paper next month.
