Private markets expose public services

(09/07/08) Public services are being exposed to the economic downturn and destructive market forces because of an increasing reliance on a private "public service industry", UNISON warned today.More than £70bn of taxpayer’s money now goes to the private sector and to private equity firms who increasingly own public services and the union is calling for an independent review into the impact of market forces on services.The warning comes ahead of the publication of a report on the "public services industry" commissioned by John Hutton at the Department for Business, which is examining ways of "increasing the role of the private and third sectors" in public-service delivery.General secretary Dave Prentis said: "We need a genuinely independent review of the public services industry – one that asks whether its increasing role and influence is really in the interests of taxpayers and public service users – rather than simply asking multinational companies what would make their lives easier. "