ABSTRACT
Contracting-out is both part of and wider than the issue of privatisation. The contracting-out of certain ancillary functions has been common to enterprises both public and private. Central government initiatives in the early 1980s were arguably more about reducing the head count than carefully designed to increase efficiency. Legislation passing through Parliament in late 1987 was set to compel local authorities to put six key services out to competitive tender. These are refuse collection, school meals and other catering, maintenance of parks, gardens and grounds, vehicle maintenance and repair, cleaning of offices and other buildings and other cleaning. The client organisation seeks to maximise its bargaining power by trawling the widest possible market. The time-buying strategy failed and many of the unpalatable questions that Labour had postponed now re-emerged. Legislation had twice been shelved – in 1985 and 1986 -allegedly because the moment was not opportune or, as Secretary of State Ridley argued, because insufficient parliamentary time had been available.
