Throughout 2012 and 2013, we have seen an increasing litany of press reports, official enquiries and more recently Serious Fraud Office and police investigations on high-profile public service outsourcing contracts and contractors.

From the Olympic Games security staffing to the Ministry of Justice tagging contracts to prisoner transport and GP services contracts – some big issues and questions have been...

This week the TUC has an opportunity to set out a new agenda for public services. It can and should challenge the Coalition Government's obsession with market based approaches. It also has to be ready to challenge some of the trade union movement's own prejudices. It must champion communities and service users - collective and individual. It has to...

All too often it is assumed that businesses and the voluntary and community sector have little in common; and indeed there are those who argue that they should stay apart. This is a deeply short-sighted and flawed view.

Of course, there are major and multi-dimensional differences between large corporates and small local community organisations – but this is not necessarily...

It is clear to me that charities and other campaign organisations will be muzzled by the current draft of the Government's 'Transparency of Lobbying, non-party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Bill'.

In response, charities (and I note that the Electoral Commission has similarly expressed concerns) have understandably claimed that the Bill challenges their core duty to speak up for their...

Public sector leaders need to be more than merely good managers. The times we are living in demand formidable professional skills and a high degree of initiative and awareness

As the summer holiday season draws to a close, public sector leaders will be turning to their latest challenges. They know that the coming months and years will be some of...

The announcement of the reviews including a potential Serious Fraud Office enquiry into the contractual relations with and payments to the providers of the Ministry of Justice’s tagging service followed by the Institute for Government’s report on public service outsourcing were wake up calls.

They follow in turn over reports from the Public Accounts Committee and the National Audit Office...

Uncertainty is probably the only certainty for the public sector over the next few years. This uncertainty is compounded by the challenges of ever-reducing public sector budgets and, for many services, rising demand. Plus, of course, policy changes are adding yet more pressures. This means that public service providers in the charitable and indeed the wider social sector and...

Revelations about the non-emergency NHS 111 service raise yet more questions about  public service contracting. It’s time to open up the whole outsourcing process to closer scrutiny 

Recent reports, revelations and failures in the procurement and management of contracted public services have raised many questions.

From MoJ tagging to GP service contracts to NHS 111 – to prisons, to proposals for...

It would seem that there will be no respite from the cuts to public expenditure for some years to come, irrespective of the general election result in May 2015, and local government in particular faces still further significant cuts to its central government grant. Consequently, communities and those who live and work in them will inevitably experience further reductions...

In my opinion, a contemporary public sector leader should think very hard and analytically before assuming outsourcing is the most effective and efficacious way of either improving the quality or reducing the cost of public services.

I fully appreciate that this stance goes against the contemporary grain, given that many political leaders (both within the current Coalition Government andsome in...