Public Services White Paper launched - update to include Competition Strategy for Offender Services
The Competition Strategy for Offender Services has been published. As expected it mirrors the Open Public Services white paper in that competition will be the default option for all services. A schedule of services to be tendered will be published annually, on a rolling programme. Contracts for prisons are to be further opened to competition, including 9 prison tenders this year. The proposals include using competition to deliver core probation services and encouraging public sector spin outs. While the strategy makes passing reference to reducing the barriers to voluntary and community sector and SME involvement in the market, it appears that this will be done through a DWP type prime provider model. It also strongly emphasises Payment by Results models, which are likely to exclude many small voluntary organisations. In addition, it appears that the different aims of punishment and rehabilitation may be amalgamated in contracts, which could cause a strong moral dilemma for many voluntary sector providers. The strategy appears to assume that competition in and of itself will automatically lead to better outcomes at reduced cost, as opposed to proposing an intelligent commissioning approach, using different funding routes to achieve the optimum outcomes. Detailed competition proposals for non-custodial services will be announced in the autumn.
