As the Probation Service braces itself for privatisation of chunks of its work, an indication of the sort of issues that will inevitably arise is provided by this story involving Serco in Cornwall. They have a contract to provide out-of-hours GP services and as a result of allegations, including the manipulation of performance data, they received an unannounced inspection from the Care Quality Commission last month.
There are many worrying aspects to a story like this, involving as it does peoples health and well-being. When these same service companies start getting involved in probation contracts it will involve public safety. Now naturally the company and the commissioning PCT are in essence denying that there is any substantial basis to any of the 'whistle-blowing' allegations. But can anyone tell me how a private firm can make a profit from a contract that costs less than one previously undertaken by a not-for-profit organisation and provide the same level of service?
It doesn't make sense does it and so stories like this are going to become ever more commonplace. Now I know that officially the answer is that the service company is just more efficient, but we all know that's cobblers. Just look at what the new bank regulator said this week. The banks will all have to be forced by legislation to stop offering free banking because they can't be trusted not to screw us! I rest my case.
The fundamental truth is that the private and voluntary sector are experienced at providing all sorts of services but, when presented with n insurmountable problem, their solution is to walk away; to close services, to not deliver services (such as buses in rural areas or shops that are unprofitable in small towns etc) or to marginalise 'hard to reach' groups (employability services to offenders, the mentally ill etc de-prioritised in preference to 'easy wins' or 'education' that provides qualifications to people that can already do things rather than actually training anyone to any credible degree). What they can't do is to to keep trying when everyone else has given up, when the solutions aren't obvious or don't involve huge numbers and associated economies of scale. They can't make decisions when the options are all untenable, cannot commit long term to training and professional development, cannot cope with deviance, contrition, a lack of motivation and non-cooperation.
ReplyDeleteIn short, in order for the other sectors to 'take over' the Probation Service, it is necessary for the Probation Service to be turned into something else, something less challenging, something with lower standards, lower expectations and lower measures of success. Its a bit like wishing that the Probation Service would run the prisons but, in order to make it a sufficiently attractive option, they need to release everyone first.
"But can anyone tell me how a private firm can make a profit from a contract that costs less than one previously undertaken by a not-for-profit organisation and provide the same level of service?"
ReplyDeleteActually, if you flick through your previous posts, you've answered that question yourself... get rid of bureaucratic time sinks (OASIS or something you called it?), thin out management and make-work, plan rollouts of new methods and technologies in stages and trails rather than top-drop dictats... There are plenty of ways it can be done.
Public sector organisations are very vulnerable to politics, and one side effect of that is never being able to admit a new policy is clearly wrong and reverse it... and they don't have the accountability structures in place for somebody to get fired for bad decisions. They also tend to lead to make-work by departments who have to justify their existence, and there is little motivation for high level managers to fix this.
Whether a private sector organisation will do this or not is a different matter. In order for privatisation to work, there needs to be significant financial consequences for screwing up, significant legal consequences for faking it, and direct day-to-day competition, not the usually badly negotiated monopoly market grant that usually passes for privitisation in the UK...
Place your bets on which will happen...