02 November 2001
GMB general secretary John Edmonds gave evidence to the first hearing of the Commons' Public Administration Committee as its major inquiry into the public services got under way. He issued a concise condemnation of the increasing use of the Private Finance Initiative and public-private partnerships to subsidise investment in health and education.
'We believe that the PFI is a high-cost option that delivers lower quality,' Edmonds told MPs. He added that the unions had 'examples galore' of deals with the private sector that had gone wrong. On the other hand, ministers had failed to come up with evidence that PFI schemes and PPPs were working. 'The government is proceeding by assertion,' he said.
Edmonds told committee members that the unions were winning round public opinion in their battle to stop private companies going on to the hospital ward and into the classroom. He said the public was not willing to take on trust the government's claim that services would improve in the future.
'The great British public, when they look at the privatisation issue, don't look in a crystal ball, they go and stand on a station platform.'
The union leader said Labour was keen on deals with the private sector because it helped keep down the Public Sector Borrowing Requirement.
'The advantage of the PFI seems to be that, because this is so-called private money, it doesn't show up on the PSBR and therefore this is a way of fudging the figures and still producing extra public service investment,' he said.
PAC chair Tony Wright challenged Edmonds to explain how the government could improve services without using private capital. 'People want to see things being done. Where does the drive for reform come from?' he said.
Edmonds responded by calling for better training for public sector staff, many of whom were 'under trained', and said employees' roles should have a greater emphasis on user satisfaction rather than undertaking a list of tasks.
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