Union attacks business 'sharks'

Unison says the very firms who profit from outsourcing were over-represented

Unions have attacked ministers over a review which calls for more public services to be run by private firms.

The public sector union Unison claimed that the committee which conducted the review was biased towards big business.

Unison General Secretary Dave Prentis said the panel's members were "sharks circling the private sector".

The investigation led by Deanne Julius, an ex-director of a firm which runs private prisons, said more outsourcing would save taxpayers money.

People using this scheme don't care who is providing assistance - they just want to go back to work Deanne Julius

Ms Julius told the BBC that there was evidence that contracting out public-sector work to private companies brought down costs by between 20-30%, while at the same time improving the quality of some services.

On pilot projects where private firms took over welfare-to-work job schemes she said: "There is evidence that these have been working well.

"People using this scheme don't care who is providing assistance - they just want to go back to work."

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Mr Prentis argued that the unions were snubbed by being omitted from the original enquiry panel selected by business secretary John Hutton.

Instead, Mr Prentis said, membership was top-heavy with the representatives from the very companies who would profit from future contracts.

Ms Julius denied that the review was biased toward big business, and said that representatives of public-sector trade unions had been invited to sit on the advisory panel.

However Ms Julius did admit that there had been a "glitch" which meant that the unions had missed the first meeting of the panel - although they did attend the second meeting.