European Services Strategy Unit

Review by Dexter Whitfield of European Welfare States after the Crisis: Changing Public Attitudes (by Policy Network, Institute for Public Policy Research and The Foundation for European Progressive Studies) in The Spokesman, No. 120, May, 2013 – http://www.spokesmanbooks.com. The paper does not recognise the financialisation, personalisation, marketisation and privatisation of public services and the welfare state, let alone consider them a ‘challenge’ “The reason perhaps lies in the fact that these policies, designed mainly by the last Labour government and accelerated by the Coalition, are intended to privatise the ‘old’ welfare state in order to release public money to more fully address the casualties of, and the needs, of capital.”

http://climatemarkets.org is a collaborative project of the Institute for Policy Studies, Washington DC and the Heinrich Böll Foundation North America. It sets out to understand what climate change means for the financial sector, and what financial sector involvement means for the funding of climate change projects. Reader covers financial trends, private sector actors, international financial institutions and carbon markets and other financial instruments. Download as a pdf or eBook http://climatemarkets.org/reader. Reader section on Public Private Partnerships and the Global Auction of Public Assets – http://climatemarkets.org/reader/public-private-partnerships-and-the-global-au ction- of-public-assets.html Presentation on PPPs – http://climatemarkets.org/course/blurring-the-boundaries-private-equity-and-pu blic- private-partnerships

Twenty years on from the introduction of the private finance initiative (PFI), Dexter Whitfield examines the effect it has had – and how it’s set to get worse under new Tory plans (PF2) – Red Pepper, Feb/Mar 2013, Issue 188, pages 16 – 18. http://www.redpepper.org.uk/fingers-in-the-pfi/

The Posted Workers Enforcement Directive and the ‘Monti II’ Regulation: The temporary posting of workers to a member state other than that to which they are based has brought together a complex set of social, economic and regulatory issues within EU law. This paper examines the conflicts of free movement and social rights and the Posted Workers Enforcement directive and the Monti ll and recommends a way forward.

The average annual return on the sale of equity in UK PPP project companies was 29% between 1998-2012 – twice the 12%-15% rate of return in PPP business cases at financial close of projects. The excess profit could be £2.65bn, all of which benefits private sector companies. This report exposes the real level of profiteering in PFI projects and shows how the government's new PFI model, Private Finance 2, does nothing to address the profiteering or lack of transparency. Includes a Global database of PPP equity transactions. Also ESSU UK PPP Equity database can be download at http://www.european-services-strategy.org.uk/ppp-database/ppp-equity-database/

A paper written for Studies in Social Services, Li Bing, Vice Professor, Department of Sociology, Beijing Administrative College, China. Social services are at the forefront of the continued neoliberal transformation of public services and the welfare state in the UK. The paper applies the In Place of Austerity framework to examine the changes in social services. Paper in English and Chinese.

The average annual return on the sale of equity in UK PPP project companies was 29% between 1998-2012 – twice the 12%-15% rate of return in PPP business cases at financial close of projects. The excess profit could be £2.65bn, all of which benefits private sector companies. This report exposes the real level of profiteering in PFI projects and shows how the government's new PFI model, Private Finance 2, does nothing to address the profiteering or lack of transparency. Includes Global database of PPP equity transactions. Also ESSU UK PPP Equity database can be download at http://www.european-services-strategy.org.uk/ppp-database/ppp-equity-database/

A viable alternative to the Councils current outsourcing plan to award large long-term strategic partnership contracts for Development and Regulatory Services and New Support and Customer Services Organisation in late 2012 and early 2013.

Critical analysis of the County Council’s plan to outsource ICT and corporate services in a strategic partnership. Provides evidence that the Council is failing in its Best Value statutory duties in the content and process of reviews and the duty to consult. Details how the Council merged Best Value into procurement, a critical analysis of strategic partnerships, a review of current ICT contract performance, an impact assessment and alternatives.

A paper written for Studies in Social Services, Li Bing, Vice Professor, Department of Sociology, Beijing Administrative College, China. Social services are at the forefront of the continued neoliberal transformation of public services and the welfare state in the UK. The paper applies the In Place of Austerity framework to examine the changes in social services. Paper in English and Chinese.

This Barnet UNISON Briefing examines the London Borough of Barnet’s plan to allocate just 2.5% client costs in the planned outsourcing of planning, environment health, trading standards, highways planning and cemeteries. The amount allocated would hardly be adequate to fund contract management and monitoring, leaving nothing to fund other client functions. It discusses the effects of Barnet Council’s ‘thin client’ plans, commissioning and client responsibilities, resources required for contract management and monitoring and the consequences of under-resourcing the client function.

The London Borough of Barnet signed a £100m 25-year PFI street lighting contract with Barnet Lighting Services Limited (Bouygues Construction and Mill Group infrastructure fund) in April 2006. This Briefing details the delays and performance failures by the private contractor, the lack of audit despite the high risks and cost increases borne by the Council, and the lack of regular, comprehensive and publicly available monitoring reports.