ESSU Reports for public bodies, trade unions and community organisations

Reports researched and written by ESSU for public bodies, trade unions and community organisations.

• Evidence to Select Committee on the Privatisation of Public Services in South Australia

  Global, State and City dimensions of privatisation

  Addresses the key issues determined by the Select Committee on the cost, quality, impact and the effect on income and wealth inequality, public participation, social cohesion and the role of government. Includes a brief political economy overview, a typology of privatisation, an alternative strategy and 23 recommendations for action by the South Australia legislature (June 2021).

  • South Australia Privatisation Inquiry Evidence - Dexter Whitfield

• Critical Analysis of Dorset Council’s Property & Asset Management Strategy

  Dorset Property Services is the in-house multi-professional property consultancy of the former Dorset County Council. In 2019 the Council appointed consultants to consider the options for the future of Property and Asset Management services. Two Committee reports later a draft business case proposes a commissioning and outsourcing strategy with the loss of 63 full time equivalent jobs.

  Dorset UNISON commissioned a detailed analysis of the four reports from the European Services Strategy Unit which has extensive experience of options appraisals and analysis of local government services. Their report is highly critical of the process to date, particularly the consultants report and the current draft business case, which are judged to be fundamentally flawed.

  It highlights the need for a broader vision for the Dorset Council’s Property Strategy and Asset Management organisation with a vision of a multi-disciplinary service having a vital and vibrant role in bringing the Council’s capital programme to fruition over the next two decades.

  • Dorset UNISON critique Property & Asset Management Strategy

• Privatisation and marketisation

  In this section:

  • Privatisation of London’s Fire Service Training and Control Centre Reversed
  • Profiting from rough sleepers Social Impact Bond
  • The sorry tale of Deutsche Bahn
  • Commissioning and Procurement Toolkit for Local Government and Health
  • East Herts Leisure Trust Failure
  • Future Shape of the Council: The Flaws in Barnet’s Commissioning and Procurement Policy
  • Failure to Assess Options for Future Shape of the Council
  • North Tyneside – A Commissioning Council? Evidence Base for the Alternative Plan
  • Options Appraisal Opposes Outsourcing and Offshoring of Prescription Pricing Division, NHS Business Services Authority
  • London Fire Brigade’s Protective Equipment Group retained in-house
  • New Forms of Privatization
  • Bradford’s Outsourcing Agenda, 2001
  • Barnet: Shrinking the Council
• Health and social care

  In this section:

  • Chinese translation of New Health & Social Care Economy summary
  • The New Health and Social Care Economy – Dexter Whitfield
  • Health and Social Care and Sustainable Development in the East of England
  • Options Appraisal Opposes Outsourcing and Offshoring of Prescription Pricing Division, NHS Business Services Authority
  • Does Excelcare really?
  • The Health and Social Care Economy in the North West
  • Caring for People, Not Making Markets
  • Good Hope Hospital and the Health Care Market
• Regional and City Economies

  In this section:

  • Economic and Social Audit of the North West Region
  • Appraisal of Unitary Options in Bedfordshire
  • Health and Social Care Economy in the North West
  • Our City is NOT FOR SALE
  • Secret Services
  • The North West Relocation Project
• PPP Strategic Partnerships

  Analysis of proposed PPP Strategic Partnerships

  In this section:

  • An alternative to Privatisation by Partnership
  • Southhampton PPP Strategic Partnership
  • The Flawed Options Appraisal and Outline Business Case for a Strategic Service-Delivery Partnersip in Somerset County Council
  • Cardiff Council’s Transformation Strategy: An assessment and the case for a new approach to Public Service Reform
  • No Corporate Takeover of Council Services
  • Oldham Strategic Service Delivery Partnership
  • PPP Briefing: Strategic Service-delivery Partnerships and Outsourced Shared Services Projects
  • Public Private Partnerships: Confidential ‘Research’, A Critique of the Audit Commission’s study of Strategic Service-delivery Partnerships by Dexter Whitfield
  • Social and Economic Audit: Oldham Strategic Service Delivery Partnership
  • Social, Economic and Environmental Audit of Salford
  • Somerset ISiS or Crisis? An Assessment of the proposed Strategic Service-delivery Partnership with IBM
  • Southwest One: Lessons and New Agenda for Public Services in the South West
  • Bedfordshire: Failing Best Value – The implications and alternatives to strategic partnership (2000)
  • Strategic Partnership in Crisis
  • Contract Capital of the North?
  • UK outsourcing expands despite high failure rates – PPP Strategic Partnerships Database 2012-2013, Dexter Whitfield
• Public Private Partnerships and Private Finance Initiative

  Public Private Partnerships and Private Finance Initiative

  In this section:

  • How to Exclude Soft Services from BSF/PFI Projects
  • Climate Finance and markets A unique toolkit, course, reader, glossary, videos and resources
  • Economic Impact of Prisons in Rural Areas: A Review of the Issues, Dexter Whitfield
  • Financing the Infrastructure in the 21st Century: The Long Term Impact of Public Private Partnerships in Britain and Australia by Dexter Whitfield
  • The Private Finance Initiative in the NHS
  • Private Finance Initiative and Public Private Partnerships: What Future for Public Services?
  • No to Privatisation of Newcastle Schools
  • Secondment of Staff for New Tyne Tunnel PPP
  • Privatising Justice: The Impact of the Private Finance Initiative in the Criminal Justice System
• Transformation and Public Service Reform

  Studies assessing reform proposals and alternatives.

  In this section:

  • ‘Future Shape’ ‘easy Council’ ‘One Barnet’ = Failure: How mass outsourcing was stopped
  • Business Cases
    • Analysis of Business Case for £600m-£750m New Support & Customer Services Project: London Borough of Barnet
    • Barnet Catering Services: ‘Jewel in the Crown’
    • Local Authority Trading Company (LATC) Business Case for Adult and Housing Services
    • Outsourcing, Cuts, Job Losses & New Operating Model: Adult Social Care in Barnet
    • Analysis of Business Case for Local Authority Trading Company
    • Analysis of Development and Regulatory Services Business Case, London Borough of Barnet
    • Barnet: Assessment of CSO/NSO Business Case Update
    • Transfer of Housing Service to Barnet Homes
  • Links to Barnet UNISON Reports 2008-2018
  • Business Plans
  • Good Practice Transformation
    • Good Practice Transformation Toolkit for Barnet Council’s Future Shape
  • Options Appraisals
    • Barnet Education & Skills and Catering Update
    • Adult Social Care stays in-house but Barnet reverts to outsourcing
    • Barnet Street Scene returns to full in-house provision
    • Direct and Collateral Damage to Barnet Libraries
    • Barnet Education & Skills and Catering: Analysis of Options Appraisal
    • Barnet’s Future Library Service: Library Review No 2
    • The Future of Barnet Libraries
    • Commercialising Dorset’s Adult Social Care Services: Critical analysis of the proposed Local Authority Trading Company for Dorset County UNISON
    • Commercialising Education and Skills: Future Delivery of Services to Schools
    • Critique of Options Appraisal for Adult Social Care In-House Services
    • CSO/NSO Options Appraisal: Trade Union Response
    • Draft Protocol: Service Review, Options Appraisal and Procurement between London Borough of Barnet and UNISON, GMB, NUT and NASUWT
    • Easy-Council ‘no frills’ Planning Privatisation report exposed
    • Future of Hendon Cemetery and Crematorium: Implications for Future Shape
    • The Economic Case for In-House Options and Bids
  • Procurement Policy
    • Draft Corporate Procurement Strategy for the London Borough of Barnet
    • Barnet Competitive Dialogue Protocol
    • Draft Corporate Procurement Strategy for the London Borough of Barnet
    • Education & Skills and Catering: Threat of large-scale subcontracting
    • Future Shape of the Council: The Flaws in Barnet’s Commissioning and Procurement Policy
    • Why a ‘thin client’ is a bad policy
  • Transformation performance
    • 25% failure rate of strategic partnership contracts
    • Failures, delays and soaring cost of Barnet Council’s Street Lighting PFI contract
    • Terminate Capita Contracts and Redesign the Council
    • The Way Out of Financial Crisis – Barnet’s LATC
  • Transformation Strategies
    • Barnet Trade Union Strategy
    • The easyCouncil model
    • Barnet: Future Shape of the Council Briefings
    • Costs and Consequences of Commissioning Council
    • One Barnet Critique
    • Failure to Assess Options for Future Shape of the Council
    • Future Shape of the Council: Comments on Phase 2 Cabinet and Interim Reports
    • One Barnet: The Wrong Approach to Transformation
    • Cardiff Council’s Transformation Strategy: An assessment and the case for a new approach to Public Service Reform
    • Barnet 10-point Plan
    • FAQ of Barnet Council’s Future Shape
    • Future Shape Questions
• Community Planning and Regeneration

  In this section:

  • Aberdeen Futures: Whose Community Planning?
  • Policy Context of Housing Regeneration in the West End of Newcastle
• Education

  In this section:

  • How to Exclude Support Services from Building Schools for the Future and PFI Projects
• Equalities, Impact Assessment and Evaluation

  Reports covering equalities, impact assessment and evaluation studies. Also see reports in Public Costs and Economic, Social, Health, Environmental, and Sustainable Development Impacts section of the Outsourcing and PPP Library.

  In this section:

  • The Case for a Positive Public Duty on Age Equality
  • Promoting Gender Equality in the Public Sector
• Employment strategies

  In this section:

  • Working Together for Best Value