CBI responds to Institute for Government report on outsourcing

A new report from the Institute for Government takes a look at the last few decades of public contracting, and ranks which have been outsourced successfully and which need reform.

It finds that outsourcing waste collection, cleaning, catering and maintenance services has delivered significant savings and benefits to citizens. Particularly in these areas, bringing services entirely back into government hands could lead to worse and more expensive services for the public.

Members and the CBI actively fed into the report’s production and responded positively to its publication.

Matthew Fell, Chief UK Policy Director at the CBI, said:

“Partnerships between the public and private sectors play a vital role in driving prosperity across all UK regions and nations. And, as the government spends nearly a third of its annual budget in this way, improving public sector markets should rightly be high on its agenda.

“This report has some is full of good ideas, including extending the Outsourcing Playbook, which has been well received by industry, to more types of public contracts, and creating an annual report to track its implementation.”

“Improving data collection for major projects will also help provide evidence of what works, which is vital when measuring the impact of investment and innovation the private sector brings to high quality public service delivery.”

The CBI will continue to champion this issue on behalf of business as part of our campaign to make public procurement work for citizens and business.