I always enjoy articles from Comment is Freed. Well sourced and lucidly presented. This struck a chord, as we have an adult
son in a social care placement- luckily in a superb charitable trust that looks after him very well. We think this is an excellent model for care and the government and local authorities should encourage further development of these types of organisations
I have come away from reading that extract convinced of a number of things, among them that I must buy the book and that Chris Grayling should be in a (state-run) jail and not in the Lords.
As a police officer with an interest in offender management I was aware of the chaos of the probation privatisation but reading your description fair took my breath away: a horror story
The logical conclusion follows. There are some, perhaps many, services that the state should provide itself, recognising that they realistically cannot be contracted out.
Sam, my copy of your book is arriving today. The email message about its delivery has one of those helpful "Products related to items in your shipment" notices.
The products deemed to be related to to your book are all various varieties of bin-bags.
I think something powered by AI has read the title and subtitle of your book ...
Well articulated and clear explanation of the reality of contracted out services that gets to grips the underpinning issues. This is simply that quality is ill defined and costs are poorly understood, with low price being seen as the primary motivator. Same has occurred across the public realm with cuts and “saving” crippling services based on arbitrary and ludicrous efficiency targets, that we’re ignorant of how services are delivered. The giant can of worms that is public services and their finance is, as they have to do, being opened by the new government and the utter appalling state of everything will be there to behold…. I wish them every success in attempting to put this all right. Looking forward to reading the book.
Sam, I worked in this sector for over a decade for a company that was a competitor of those you have mentioned and agree with much of what you have written.
I totally support your view of Mr Grayling and agree that the appointed providers' bid writing teams outshone the Government teams responsible for writing the contracts and then managing them once they had been awarded. (I not only managed contracts but also did bid writing).
The whole model did not work well at all. Many companies subcontracted operations to organisations that could not cope with the work they were given.
The root of the problem was often the fact that the Government expected to get more for the money than they paid and they did not pay enough.
Some of the requirements in contracts were unnecessary and costs could have been saved. The non renewal of contracts in specific locations where delivery had been more than adequate was a constant problem.
Reading about the way in which the probation service was privatised overnight, it's interesting to think about how different the level and type of scrutiny is within government to different types of proposals. E.g. even relatively small capital investments will go through several rounds of review and challenge taking 6-12 months, if not longer (ministers can technically overrule this process via ministerial directions, but this is rare outside emergencies), and new legislation will also be scrutinised at length by both internal lawyers, the Commons and (especially) the Lords, but the way in which services are actually delivered can be radically changed with little external scrutiny - despite that, as described, the level of risk can be vastly greater than from misallocating a small proportion of capital spend.
Yes, the procurement process itself is scrutinise heavily (albeit often in really unhelpful ways) but the decisions over how to do delivery in the first place are often gven very little time at all. Which is bizarre.
Read the whole book this weekend and thoroughly recommend it. Incredibly timely, of course, and went through each chapter thinking about the panoply of decisions facing the new government. Putting a copy in the starter pack for every newly elected MP and appointed minister would be public money well spent, I think. In the spirit of moving away from a non-stop news and comment cycle, it seems ironic to look forward to future posts from Sam on a weekly basis measuring progress from Starmer and his team. We're still in the honeymoon period - let's see what the year ahead brings...
Well, you certainly won’t be short of material over the next few months. Stories of ten new major bills to be launched in the King’s Speech. New book looks excellent, though likely to raise blood pressure to unacceptable levels. Hope yours stayed within safe limits while writing it.
This made me very angry too. I knew some of it but hadn't put it all together. I will get the book today. Are you selling it direct and cutting out the middle men
Why did successive conservative administrations keep giving Chris Grayling high profile jobs? It’s not like he was charismatic or good at policy or had a political following in the Tory party or in the country.
There is always the perverse incentive that you don't want to promote anyone competent lest they eventually go after your own job. By that yardstick Chris Grayling was the perfect subordinate, he wasn't a threat to anybody.
I always enjoy articles from Comment is Freed. Well sourced and lucidly presented. This struck a chord, as we have an adult
son in a social care placement- luckily in a superb charitable trust that looks after him very well. We think this is an excellent model for care and the government and local authorities should encourage further development of these types of organisations
I have come away from reading that extract convinced of a number of things, among them that I must buy the book and that Chris Grayling should be in a (state-run) jail and not in the Lords.
As a police officer with an interest in offender management I was aware of the chaos of the probation privatisation but reading your description fair took my breath away: a horror story
Very well explained.
The logical conclusion follows. There are some, perhaps many, services that the state should provide itself, recognising that they realistically cannot be contracted out.
Even Friedrich Hayek knew that, but few politicians have actually read what he said
Okay but the quietly concealed bombshell here is that Serco is in charge of our anti-nuke defences. For Christ's sake, no-one tell Putin...
Sam, my copy of your book is arriving today. The email message about its delivery has one of those helpful "Products related to items in your shipment" notices.
The products deemed to be related to to your book are all various varieties of bin-bags.
I think something powered by AI has read the title and subtitle of your book ...
Haha!
I got the same! (Including lavender-scented bin bag options - niche algorithm link to the inclusion of Grayling on the honours list ...)
Looking forward to getting my copy today too...
Well articulated and clear explanation of the reality of contracted out services that gets to grips the underpinning issues. This is simply that quality is ill defined and costs are poorly understood, with low price being seen as the primary motivator. Same has occurred across the public realm with cuts and “saving” crippling services based on arbitrary and ludicrous efficiency targets, that we’re ignorant of how services are delivered. The giant can of worms that is public services and their finance is, as they have to do, being opened by the new government and the utter appalling state of everything will be there to behold…. I wish them every success in attempting to put this all right. Looking forward to reading the book.
Sam, I worked in this sector for over a decade for a company that was a competitor of those you have mentioned and agree with much of what you have written.
I totally support your view of Mr Grayling and agree that the appointed providers' bid writing teams outshone the Government teams responsible for writing the contracts and then managing them once they had been awarded. (I not only managed contracts but also did bid writing).
The whole model did not work well at all. Many companies subcontracted operations to organisations that could not cope with the work they were given.
The root of the problem was often the fact that the Government expected to get more for the money than they paid and they did not pay enough.
Some of the requirements in contracts were unnecessary and costs could have been saved. The non renewal of contracts in specific locations where delivery had been more than adequate was a constant problem.
Good luck with the book. I may have to up my BP meds before reading.
Reading about the way in which the probation service was privatised overnight, it's interesting to think about how different the level and type of scrutiny is within government to different types of proposals. E.g. even relatively small capital investments will go through several rounds of review and challenge taking 6-12 months, if not longer (ministers can technically overrule this process via ministerial directions, but this is rare outside emergencies), and new legislation will also be scrutinised at length by both internal lawyers, the Commons and (especially) the Lords, but the way in which services are actually delivered can be radically changed with little external scrutiny - despite that, as described, the level of risk can be vastly greater than from misallocating a small proportion of capital spend.
Yes, the procurement process itself is scrutinise heavily (albeit often in really unhelpful ways) but the decisions over how to do delivery in the first place are often gven very little time at all. Which is bizarre.
Hi Sam
Just finished reading your book first book. Well done, a thoroughly good read and I will lend and recommend it as widely as I can.
Looking forward to getting your take on Labour's proposals in the King's speech today wrt to the long term problems you have highlighted in the book.
I just hope we simply don't continue to bodge our way into the future with yet more sticking plasters on a broken system.
Read the whole book this weekend and thoroughly recommend it. Incredibly timely, of course, and went through each chapter thinking about the panoply of decisions facing the new government. Putting a copy in the starter pack for every newly elected MP and appointed minister would be public money well spent, I think. In the spirit of moving away from a non-stop news and comment cycle, it seems ironic to look forward to future posts from Sam on a weekly basis measuring progress from Starmer and his team. We're still in the honeymoon period - let's see what the year ahead brings...
Well, you certainly won’t be short of material over the next few months. Stories of ten new major bills to be launched in the King’s Speech. New book looks excellent, though likely to raise blood pressure to unacceptable levels. Hope yours stayed within safe limits while writing it.
Reading this did not help my blood pressure.
This made me very angry too. I knew some of it but hadn't put it all together. I will get the book today. Are you selling it direct and cutting out the middle men
Why did successive conservative administrations keep giving Chris Grayling high profile jobs? It’s not like he was charismatic or good at policy or had a political following in the Tory party or in the country.
There is always the perverse incentive that you don't want to promote anyone competent lest they eventually go after your own job. By that yardstick Chris Grayling was the perfect subordinate, he wasn't a threat to anybody.