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Outsourcing (Government Departments)

I am delighted to move on to the substance of the debate. I have tried my best to respond to various interventions from the Opposition Benches. The hon. Member for Easington referred to the open public services. [Interruption.] With respect to the hon. Gentleman, I am trying to answer the meat of his argument, which is whether it is good to create a situation in which those buying on behalf of the taxpayer have choice about where they buy services on our behalf. The hon. Gentleman is actually arguing for no choice and for protection of the status quo. The Government's open public services White Paper makes it clear—we expect a political argument about this—that we want to switch the default setting away from in-house delivery to commissioning services from a diverse range of providers where that would improve services or reduce costs. The hon. Gentleman made it clear that he was hostile to the for-profits sector. My hon. Friend the Member for Thurrock made a valuable point that the Government are agnostic about who delivers the service. We are particularly keen—and it is a coalition Government commitment—to make it easier for charities and social enterprises to participate in public services. They are not driven by a profit motive. By definition, they are driven by a desire to deliver a better outcome for the people that they support and care about.