Friday 14th March, 2014

Following the recent overcharging scandals involving G4S and Serco, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has said that the the government needs to urgently get "its house in order" in relation to its outsourcing contracts. Margaret Hodge, PAC Chair, said that the arrangements lacked openness.  However, the Paymaster General, Francis Maude insists there's already been significant improvements.

Speaking on the Today Programme, Mr Maude said "We are turning the supertanker around, but a lot of this is about change of attitude and culture and mindset, and that does take time."

Ms Hodge is calling for three basic measures to promote transparency:

• extension of Freedom of Information to contracts with private providers
• access rights for the National Audit Office
• a requirement for contractors to open their books to officials

Ms Hodge confirmed that all of the big four - G4S, Atos, Serco and Capita were prepared to accept the measures.

However, some SMEs complain that the government gives too much business to the big four private sector contractors. Yet, despite the recent scandals with some of the major companies, it seems that Civil Servants are not prepared to risk giving large contracts to smaller firms.

As Sara Murray, founder of Buddi, a company which develops tracking technology, said: "The words that we heard the most often were 'high risk'. 'It's just too high risk to contract with you'.