Local government leaders are losing their appetite for outsourcing, according to a new report.
A survey of council leaders, chief executives and mayors by the New Local Government Network, found that only 15% said they intend to outsource more of the next two years.
Meanwhile, 39% said they intended to outsource less.
Adam Lent, director of the think tank, said: “Our findings show that the public sector is already rethinking its relationship to the private sector.
“But the current national political debate is missing the point.
“The Conservative Government takes a business as usual approach to outsourcing, while the Labour Party advocates taking everything back in house.
“Our research finds that it is not a question of more or fewer partnerships, but establishing better ones.”
The report recommends increasing public oversight of the private sector through a new accountability code of conduct, and a “social responsibility accreditation system” for all contracts over £200,000.
It also said contracts over £1m should be subject to open book accounting.
In addition, the public sector should be able to enforce payment of the living wage through all contracts, “or the public sector will pick up the costs of low pay elsewhere in the system”.
