‘It is appalling that this Labour government is now more obsessed with selling off our public services to put profits in the pockets of millionaires, than caring about the lives of the millions of people who rely on those services.’
So said Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) general secretary Mark Serwotka yesterday.
He was commenting on the Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform (BERR) commissioned report about outsourcing the public sector.
In fact the ministry ‘forgot’ to invite the trade unions to take part. They did not, of course, forget to invite the big international monopolies who are keen to gobble up the public sector.
The review was carried out by DeAnne Julius, an economist and former member of the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee.
The PCS leader said: ‘We now have the horrifying prospect of a Labour secretary of state jetting off round the world to persuade business leaders that our cherished public services are not only for sale, they are ripe for the picking.’
The report reveals that privatised services now represent a £79 billion industry, bigger than major industries such as communications and electricity, gas and water supply.
This so called ‘public services industry’ – which has grown 130 per cent since 1995 – should be opened up further, not just in this country but to developing nations around the world, says Julius.
Among the recommendations in the review, commissioned by Business Secretary Hutton, are that the government demonstrates a long-term commitment to open up public service markets; makes it easier for private and ‘third’ sector organisations to bid for public services; and promotes the ‘export potential’ of outsourced services.
UNISON general secretary Dave Prentis commented: ‘Public services are being exposed to the economic bad weather and to destructive market forces.’
Commenting on the BERR report, Brian Strutton, GMB National Secretary said ‘This is, of course, a completely one-sided report as you might expect. It starts by assuming that public sector services are best provided by the private sector but there is no evidence that this is the case.’
Strutton continued: ‘The idea that the report puts forward that public services is an “industry” is both whacky and dangerous.’