An Introduction to Contracting Out

Abstract

Between 1980 and 1985, the debate over private provision of public services rose to the top of the British political agenda. From its origins in a small number of Conservative-controlled local authorities, it spread rapidly to both central government and the National Health Service. The issue became particularly salient in the wake of the Conservative Government’s decision to require in-house hospital workforces to compete with the private sector for NHS ancillary work, an initiative which has involved tendering exercises for three separate services at some 2000 NHS hospitals. Yet this substantial programme represented only the first manifestation of the Government’s ambitions. Decisions to require both central departments and local authorities to go out to tender for an even wider range of services in the future were announced in 1985. These confirmed that the Conservative Government continues to view ‘contracting out’ – the private provision of public services – as an integral and important part of its campaign to introduce private sector discipline and efficiency into British government.