Comments on: Public Sector Needs Make For Private Sector Growth http://www.liverpoolchamberblog.org/2007/05/14/public-sector-needs-make-for-private-sector-growth/ The Liverpool Chamber of Commerce and Industry Sat, 20 Mar 2010 23:23:07 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7.1 hourly 1 By: Graham Williams http://www.liverpoolchamberblog.org/2007/05/14/public-sector-needs-make-for-private-sector-growth/comment-page-1/#comment-1041 Graham Williams Tue, 15 May 2007 11:59:06 +0000 http://liverpoolchamber.wordpress.com/2007/05/14/public-sector-needs-make-for-private-sector-growth/#comment-1041 Liverpool City Council has already outsourced several functions to the private sector: professional technical services to 2020 Liverpool (part of Mouchel Parkman plc), ICT to Liverpool Direct (BT), highway and property maintenance contracting to Liverpool Enterprise, and others. What should they outsource next? Liverpool City Council has already outsourced several functions to the private sector: professional technical services to 2020 Liverpool (part of Mouchel Parkman plc), ICT to Liverpool Direct (BT), highway and property maintenance contracting to Liverpool Enterprise, and others.
What should they outsource next?

]]> By: Hilary Burrage http://www.liverpoolchamberblog.org/2007/05/14/public-sector-needs-make-for-private-sector-growth/comment-page-1/#comment-1040 Hilary Burrage Tue, 15 May 2007 10:41:53 +0000 http://liverpoolchamber.wordpress.com/2007/05/14/public-sector-needs-make-for-private-sector-growth/#comment-1040 A parliamentary committee has just (today, in the press) reported one difficulty with PFI which not many of us anticipated (there were lots of snags some people did predict, of course). This problem is that most public sector officers don't have the extensive commercial experience required to ensure PFI is spot-on re: the public interest; rather, commercial interests have the upper hand because they are more experienced in these matters. We can debate which (if either) interest 'should' be most advantaged, but I do see one promising potential trend emerging from this... If public sector officials have to become more commercially savvy in their work, they will understand better where the private sector 'is coming from'. Plus, perhaps at the same time these sorts of discussions will also help the private sector understand better the pressures on public / third sector operators? Commissioning is a two way exercise, and it really does help if each party has a perception of the perspective of the other. In the end, David Wade Smith is of course correct about the public-private sector imbalance in Liverpool. Perhaps the evolving contractual arrangements between the two sectors (I don't think the process is yet complete, if it ever could be) is very much for the best in our particular micro-economy. A parliamentary committee has just (today, in the press) reported one difficulty with PFI which not many of us anticipated (there were lots of snags some people did predict, of course).

This problem is that most public sector officers don’t have the extensive commercial experience required to ensure PFI is spot-on re: the public interest; rather, commercial interests have the upper hand because they are more experienced in these matters.

We can debate which (if either) interest ’should’ be most advantaged, but I do see one promising potential trend emerging from this…

If public sector officials have to become more commercially savvy in their work, they will understand better where the private sector ‘is coming from’.

Plus, perhaps at the same time these sorts of discussions will also help the private sector understand better the pressures on public / third sector operators? Commissioning is a two way exercise, and it really does help if each party has a perception of the perspective of the other.

In the end, David Wade Smith is of course correct about the public-private sector imbalance in Liverpool. Perhaps the evolving contractual arrangements between the two sectors (I don’t think the process is yet complete, if it ever could be) is very much for the best in our particular micro-economy.

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