ABSTRACT

Analysis of 60,000 contracts awarded by English councils between 2015–19 reveals that austerity constraints are a key predictor of councils outsourcing services to for-profit suppliers, regardless of their political control. Conservative Party-controlled councils are also more likely to contract with for-profit suppliers, although we found no link between Labour-controlled councils and not-for-profit suppliers, nor evidence that political or budgetary factors influence whether councils contract with providers based in their own region. We argue that centrally imposed funding cuts, and a belief that for-profit suppliers represent a cheaper option, could be overriding Labour Party councils’ ideological preference for not-for-profit providers.

摘要

对英国议会在 2015-19 年间授予的 60,000 份合同的分析表明，紧缩限制是议会将服务外包给营利性供应商的一个关键预测因素，无论他们的政治控制如何。保守党控制的委员会也更有可能与营利性供应商签订合同，尽管我们没有发现工党控制的委员会与非营利供应商之间的联系，也没有证据表明政治或预算因素会影响委员会是否与位于英国的供应商签订合同他们自己的区域。我们认为，中央实施的资金削减，以及营利性供应商代表更便宜选择的信念，可能会压倒工党委员会对非营利性供应商的意识形态偏好。