The Big Question

Kierra Box
Young people’s activist

No. The private sector is concerned with profit, not the
well-being of the young. No matter what the economic or
bureaucratic benefits, these schemes will never benefit the young
people who have lost the care of their local authority in their
development and become part of a private money-making machine.

Len Smith
Gypsy activist

This type of intervention is simply an extension of “best man
for the job”, in my opinion. If private sector management can offer
a better outcome, as well as value, then that must present a case
for its involvement. That is not to say that local authority
providers should not be constantly looking to improve their own
services.

Shaun Webster
Change self-advocacy group

If the public sector isn’t working for some reason, then all the
options should be open: private, voluntary or public. It does not
matter which sector is brought into help, as long as it is
effective. Quite often councils do not fund services well enough –
eventually things become so bad they start to panic.

Jean Stogdon
Chair of Grandparents Plus

It is never right to bring in the private sector to do this kind of
work. It’s an issue of accountability. In the public sector you
have a direct line of accountability from the front line to elected
members and from elected members to their communities. That is not
the case with the private sector.