A think tank said that only 6 per cent of private finance initiative (PFI) projects completed by central and local government have had any independent examination of value for money by official audit bodies. It called for a full independent review of value for money in the PFI, to check both that the schemes are expected to deliver value for money when signed, and that they deliver the predicted benefits once they are up and running.
Source: Press release 10.12.02, Institute for Public Policy Research (020 7470 6100)
Links: Press release
Date: 2002-Dec
An independent review body published its report on the fire service pay dispute. It recommended an 11 per cent increase in the fire service pay bill accompanied by sweeping modernisation of working practices. It said that the current structure is out of date and must be changed as part of a 140 million investment package. The government said it endorsed the main recommendations of the review.
Source: The Future of the Fire Service: Reducing risk, saving lives ('Bain report'), Independent Review of the Fire Service (020 8938 6618) | House of Commons Hansard, Debate 16.12.02, columns 553-567, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | Report (pdf) | Summary | Press release | Hansard
Date: 2002-Dec
One commentator described the abandonment of several government targets (such as those for reducing drug use and traffic congestion) as 'New Labour's profoundest crisis of purpose since it took office'.
Source: Comments by Will Hutton in The Observer, 22.12.02
Links: Observer report
Date: 2002-Dec
The government responded to a critical taskforce report on local delivery of central policy, and promised regular progress reports on action taken. (In July 2002 the taskforce criticised 'muddle and complexity' in local delivery of central policy on skills and economic development.)
Source: Better Regulation Task Force Report on Local Delivery of Central Policy: Government response, HM Treasury (020 7270 4558)
Links: Response (pdf) | BRT report (pdf)
Date: 2002-Dec
The Social Market Foundation (a think tank) reportedly argued that public service reform will fail unless local people are given real powers to run schools, hospitals and other services.
Source: The Guardian, 27.12.02
Links: Guardian report
Date: 2002-Dec
A discussion paper argued that the concept of 'public value' provides a useful way of thinking about the goals and performance of public policy, and a yardstick for assessing government activities. The concept covers outcomes and the means used to deliver them, as well as issues such as trust and legitimacy, equity, ethos and accountability.
Source: Gavin Kelly and Stephen Muers, Creating Public Value: An analytical framework for public service reform, Strategy Unit/Cabinet Office (020 7276 1881)
Links: Report (pdf)
Date: 2002-Nov
An audit report said that taxpayers have missed out on a share of millions of pounds of savings made when private contractors re-finance private finance initiative projects.
Source: PFI Refinancing Update, HC 1288 (Session 2001-02), National Audit Office, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report (pdf) | Summary (pdf) | Press release
Date: 2002-Nov
The Queen's Speech promised government measures to reform the criminal justice system, combat anti-social behaviour, modernise laws on sexual offences, relax pub and off licence opening hours, introduce foundation hospitals in the National Health Service, end 'bed blocking', improve access to universities, modernise local government, tackle the problems of truancy, and reform healthcare in Wales.
Source: Queen's Speech, House of Commons Hansard, 14.11.02, columns 3-5, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Hansard (Speech) | Hansard 14.11.02
Date: 2002-Nov
The Treasury's chief economic adviser said that 'there is a limit to how far you can apply market principles... In an area like health or education, if you go down that marketising route, you run grave risks with [the] ethic of public service'.
Source: The Guardian, 4.11.02
Links: Guardian report
Date: 2002-Nov
The government said that pay increases to resolve the firefighters' dispute would be conditional on reforms in working practices, in line with its agenda for 'modernisation' of public services.
Source: House of Commons Hansard, Debate 21.11.02, columns 885-900, TSO (0870 600 5522) | House of Commons Hansard, Debate 25.11.02, columns 23-34, TSO | House of Commons Hansard, Debate 26.11.02, columns 165-185, TSO
Links: Hansard 21.11.02 | Hansard 25.11.02 | Hansard 26.11.02
Date: 2002-Nov
Following consultation, the government published regulations designed to make it easier for councils to enter into private finance initiative contracts for increased investment in housing.
Source: Press release 4.11.02, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (020 7944 3000)
Links: Press release
Date: 2002-Nov
The Conservative Party launched a policy document setting out a series of proposed reforms to public services: it sought to give greater powers to individual users of services, often using market mechanisms, while protecting vulnerable groups.
Source: Leadership with a Purpose: A Better Society, Conservative Party (020 7222 9000)
Links: Policy document (pdf) | Press release
Date: 2002-Oct
A report warned that universities could be forced by international trade liberalisation into a global free market for higher education, where public funding, quality and ideals of public service would be replaced by corporations selling education as a commodity.
Source: Steven Kelk and Jess Worth, Trading It Away - How GATS threatens UK Higher Education, People and Planet (01865 245678)
Links: Report (pdf) | Summary (pdf)
Date: 2002-Oct
The government issued a consultation document on international negotiations to liberalise trade in services (the General Agreement on Trade in Services), including services currently provided in the United Kingdom by the public sector.
Source: Liberalising Trade in Services: A new consultation on the World Trade Organisation GATS negotiations, Department of Trade and Industry (020 7215 8420)
Links: Consultation document (pdf) | Press release
Date: 2002-Oct
Most accountants working in the public sector do not believe that the private finance initiative is providing value for money, according to a survey.
Source: Do PFI Schemes Provide Value for Money?, Association of Cost and Certified Accountants (020 7396 7000)
Links: Report (pdf) | Press release
Date: 2002-Oct
The Chancellor of the Exchequer said that the government will not modify its policy on the Private Finance Initiative. But next day the Labour Party Conference voted for a motion which heavily criticised the policy, and called for an independent review.
Source: Speech by Gordon Brown, 30.9.02 | The Guardian, 1.10.02
Links: Brown speech | Guardian 1.10.02
Date: 2002-Sep
A government report set out ways in which voluntary and community sector organisations can play a bigger role in the reform of public services and reinvigoration of civic life.
Source: The Role of the Voluntary and Community Sector in Service Delivery: A Cross Cutting Review, HM Treasury (020 7270 4558)
Links: Report (pdf) | Press release
Date: 2002-Sep
The government began consultation on changes to housing law to make it easier for local authorities to enter into Private Finance Initiative contracts and delegate housing management to private sector partners.
Source: Delegation of Housing Management, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (01709 891318)
Links: Consultation Document (pdf) | Press release
Date: 2002-Aug
A committee of MPs concluded that better evaluation is needed of Private Finance Initiative projects, and that contractors should expect to lose their investment when things go wrong and to be rewarded reasonably when things go well.
Source: Managing the Relationship to Secure a Successful Partnership in PFI Projects, Forty-Second Report (Session 2001-02), HC 460, House of Commons Public Accounts Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report
Date: 2002-Jul
A paper argued that the government should confine its activities to the relief of poverty, and allow the private sector to take responsibility for providing basic pensions and social insurance benefits.
Source: George Yarrow, Unbundling the Welfare State: Changing the Boundary between Savings, Insurance and Welfare, Adam Smith Institute (020 7222 4995)
Links: Paper (pdf)
Date: 2002-Jul
A book on the political history of the National Health Service said Labour has gone further than the Conservatives in privatising healthcare.
Source: C. Webster, The National Health Service - A Political History, Oxford University Press (01536 741171)
Links: Summary
Date: 2002-Jun
Researchers found the cost of hospitals built under the private finance initiative is much higher than under public schemes.
Source: A. Pollock et al., 'Private Finance and "Value for money" in National Health Service hospitals: a policy in search of a rationale?, British Medical Journal, 18.5.02
Links: Article
See also: Journal of Social Policy Volume 31/3, Digest 123 (paragraph 10.1)
Date: 2002-May