Do public services need private money?

Tony Blair is hoping to calm union hostility towards his plans to give the private companies a bigger role in the UK's public services.

In a speech at the TUC's annual conference, he will argue that public services will benefit from more private sector involvement in running schools and hospitals as well as other services.

But some of the larger unions are threatening to take industrial action against what they see as creeping privatisation.

Mr Blair has dismissed such claims as "fatuous" and says the status quo is the biggest enemy of the public sector.

Do public services need private money? Do the government's plans signal the end of the public sector?

Privatise everything that moves. That's the only way forward. Everything must make a profit.
Jonathan Evans, Wales

Most are more interested in jargon and image

Clive, UK

Private finance is only available if efficiencies (sacking dead wood) can be made thus making a profit from the same amount of money. But jobs would be protected and government restrictions imposed, so it will fail. I would not trust a British manager to run anything, anyway. Most are more interested in jargon and image, it seems.
Clive, UK

We spend huge amounts on public services. If they were better organised then no more money would be needed.
Bob Harvey, Lincs, UK

Every year the UK government stores up nearly £20 billion. If they cannot be persuaded and will not spend that money on public services and the only option is for the private sector to make it better, then so be it.
Joseph, UK

The private sector is unaccountable, and acts only in the interests of its shareholders. Previous experience with privatisation shows that the Government is unwilling to penalise corporations for making a mess/underperforming, for fear of ruining a longer-term relationship. PFI/PPP is a loan, not financing, and is more expensive in the long term. What's needed is less red tape, more scrutiny, and most probably, higher taxes.
Niall, UK

We should also expect to pay higher taxes for good services

B. Nichol, UK

Personally I think that people should pay a small fee to go to their doctor, thus freeing up a lot of time currently being used by time-wasters. We should also expect to pay higher taxes for good services. I am an OAP and not well off but was brought up to believe that you only get what you pay for.
B. Nichol, UK

When it comes down to it, all money is "private money" - governments extract some of this from us via taxes, and use it (inefficiently) to run public services. I want a choice of where to buy my public services from, and look forward to a day when hospitals, schools etc. are competing for my business (and my money) rather than the current "like it or lump it, but you've still got to pay for it" State-centralist system. The time has come - public-sector unions beware, you're part of the problem, not part of the solution!
David Moran, Scotland/Australia

David Warburton hits the nail on the head. I would like to add that buying our public services from private companies should be viewed as a means of extracting the best performance (management efficiency, quality of service, value for money) on behalf of the taxpayer, rather than as a method of bringing more money into public services. The taxpayer isn't going to get a free lunch, except in the sense of those (considerable) service improvements.
Robert, UK

Why are the unions so scared of private companies? Is it purely self interest that union membership is lower than in public firms? There is so much evidence (excepting railways which are a shambles) that private firms are more efficient and productive, but the unions are more concerned with wasteful employment that keeps their membership number up. More private enterprise please, fewer wasteful civil servants, thank you.
Martin, England

Is the private sector so successful in everything it does?

Peter Price, UK

Why is it that nobody believes that the employees of the public sector can do as well as or better than those in the private sector? Lord Simpson has left a once profitable company with billions of pounds of debt and the threat of redundancy for thousands. Is the private sector so successful in everything it does?
Peter Price, UK

I think that public services would be better run if they were completely privately financed. All the criticism of the past Conservative-driven projects is far too short-sighted and these projects will eventually become successful and appreciated.
Steve Mozart, UK

I applaud Tony Blair's decision - it's a pity it wasn't done years ago. No wonder the unions are up in arms, their cushy days are numbered!
Maura, UK

What is most important to me is improving services that are properly accountable to local people

Andrew Brown, UK

Those who say we should privatise the whole public sector clearly neither understands the risk this would place on vulnerable people or the complexity of some of the services that are being provided. Those who oppose the intervention of the private and not for profit sectors in delivering public services all too often find themselves defending wretched services. What is most important to me is improving services that are properly accountable to local people.
Andrew Brown, UK

The sums do not add up if we carry on the way we are going. If people do not put money in they still get a good service. There are not many things in life that give you something for nothing. Pay for what you use I say.
Paul Atkins, UK

The unions are merely trying to protect their members from the harsh world of the private sector, understandably. This does not mean the Government should back off though, as it is taxpayers, not employees who should come first. What counts at the end of the day is where we get the best value for money, not who is doing the work.
Chris, UK

We seem to want great healthcare and schools and travel but yet won't pay for it

Karl, UK

This country is in serious financial trouble and as we, as a nation, are refusing to pay more taxes, there is only one place left that the money could come from. We seem to want great healthcare and schools and travel but yet won't pay for it. When are people going to realise that you get what you pay for!!
Karl, UK

Now, at the beginning, people care where the money comes from. If, in 10 years time the NHS is efficient, schools are good and trains run on time - nobody will care any more. I applaud Mr Blair for at least trying something new. If it doesn't work, at least he tried. The Tories wouldn't even care.
Andy, UK

What I fail to understand is what exactly does the private sector do better that the public sector can't? Perhaps if the right money was given to the best people for the job then the services could stay totally public. From experience all I can determine from the private sector is to keep costs down to a minimum, ie wages and conditions to keep profits at the maximum to please shareholders and to pay directors. How can that possibly be of benefit to the general public?
Steve, UK

People are already starting to notice services have plummeted but taxes haven't!

Rob, UK

The country in which we live is not nearly as wealthy as it once was and has found many new ways to waste the relatively small revenue it has left coming in. How are we going to pay for new public buildings and services? People are already starting to notice services have plummeted but taxes haven't!
Rob, UK

I take it David Warburton has never worked in the public sector; if so his comments are unprofessional and unaccountable. I have known a Finance Director 'retire' to the public sector to see in his last few working years quietly, only to look for his old job back because he couldn't cope with the stress.
Gerry, Scotland

The answer to this question is 'we just don't know'. It is a safe assumption that the money currently available is not being used effectively to deliver adequate services. While this situation exists extra finance is more likely to increase the ineffectiveness of these services, rather than improve them in any significant manner. Getting the most out of today's resources should be the first priority because experience shows that until you have managed that, you don't have a cat in hell's chance of using any extra money to deliver improvements.
Mark, UK

Where is it all going to stop, privatising the government? Once it has changed, if it does not work out how will government control of services be regained? Buy them back at an incredible cost.
Mark Sansom, UK

I believe that the public sector has become unworkable after so many years of under-funding

Anna, UK

As much as it pains me to admit it, I believe that the public sector has become unworkable after so many years of under-funding. Take the NHS - once the jewel in the crown, now its workers struggle, albeit admirably, against a lack of resources. Money ploughed into it by the public barely keeps it running on a day-to-day basis, let alone heal the wounds that are already there. It's time for an overhaul, and if the only way it will remain serving everybody, regardless of social standing, is to be partially funded by the private sector then that's the way it should be. The same should be mirrored across all public-serving industries.
Anna, UK

Competition for fee-paying patients amongst medical services is the only way the health sector is going to improve. The writing is on the e-wall for the NHS.
Nick, Birmingham, UK

Private or public, the key to better services is choice. Where consumers have little or no choice (the NHS, railways) services are inevitably lousy. When competition is fierce (food retail, computers), service and efficiency are first rate. Only with private sector alternatives available to all will we see good public services. Extra money without this reform will be delightedly consumed by the bureaucrats.
Andy, UK

The unions are afraid of losing their jobs as they know that the private sector is more efficient

N. Pinsent, U.K.

Having returned to the U.K. after years abroad I find that everybody wants a free lunch. If you want better services you need money and if the government hasn't sufficient, obviously the private sector has to supply it. The unions are afraid of losing their jobs as they know that the private sector is more efficient. Nowhere in the first world do you have to wait three months to see a dermatologist.
N.Pinsent, U.K.

The number of stories about PFI projects that have gone badly wrong casts doubt on the idea that the private sector is more competent or efficient in delivering large public projects. Getting the private sector to fund public services is short-termism gone mad. All the government is trying to do is hide the true costs of improving public services by delaying expenditure. Unfortunately it is the British taxpayer who will end up paying extortionate rates of interest for the next twenty to thirty years - but since the current government will not be around when the true cost becomes apparent they are happy to mortgage future tax revenues for immediate political gain.
Darren, UK

Privatise the lot of them and make them start to work for a living like the rest of the country!

David Warburton, UK

If the public sector had to work as hard as the private sector we would have excellent public services. They are lax, unprofessional and unaccountable for their actions - that's why they are in the position they are in. I work a long and hard week, travel extensively abroad on business at short-notice. I am client facing and have to be responsible, accountable and professional.
What makes the public sector, i.e. local government, exempt from behaving in a professional orientated business manner. Privatise the lot of them and make them start to work for a living like the rest of the country!
David Warburton, UK

I am no economist, however, if a private company can afford to make a profit, why is that money not being ploughed back into the system allowing lower income tax? Or am I missing something?
Claire, Berkshire, UK

Any one who thinks that the answer to better public service lies with more money is living cloud cuckoo land. The government already takes 40% of the nation's wealth and still can't provide good services. Anyone who works in the health service, for instance, knows that so much money is wasted on administrators and think tanks. The logic is that the need is for the money to be better spent. If the private sector can help us do that, all well and good.
Anthony, UK

Why do we still cling to the idea that running our NHS in the style of an old-fashioned Soviet state enterprise is a good idea? I'm completely baffled by the public's attachment to what is patently a failing system. And why should I pay for a heart bypass operation (say) for people who drink and smoke too much and take no exercise?
Expecting the state to bail you out leads to a complete abdication of personal responsibility. The state should provide a minimum "safety net" level of care for us all, but surely we need to take more responsibility for our own actions. A quick glance at European health care systems should point us in the right direction - a mix of state and private. How on earth have we still got this creaking old NHS system? We spend more and more each year and still it gets worse, because it is free, and has therefore a near-infinite demand. This coupled with ever-increasing technology and medicine costs surely means the end of the Free-to-all NHS. Any politician brave enough? I fear not.
Jon Cooper, UK

Bring back the old way of doing things

Pepe, UK

Where are all my hard earned taxes going? Surely by cutting red tape, and investing the public's money sensibly then privatisation of our services can be avoided. I find it strange that Thatcher was so vilified for wanting to privatise everything, and here a supposedly socialist party wants to do exactly the same! Purple Tony strikes again.
Philip Jones, UK

In my opinion no. I am not a socialist but I believe that public services should be run with public money. I have tried bus travel in this country and it is hopeless. It's a virtual monopoly for a single company that has no interest in public service. Get rid of the corporate giants that hold us to ransom and bring back the old way of doing things.
Pepe, UK

They need it because, thanks to the last 20 years' worth of government policy, that's where all the money is now. Whether this benefits a public service or not is an entirely different matter.
Richard, UK

The public services need more money. If we the British taxpayers demand better public services, but aren't willing to pay higher taxes to fund it, then where else could the money come from ... ?
John, UK