PFI has the potential to bring improved value for money in public services with greater quality and innovation, but the Government has always made clear that this should not be achieved at the expense of staff terms and conditions. Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, workers transferred from public to private sectors were extended only the limited protection offered by the 1981 TUPE regulations. Over the past six years, the Government has pursued a strategy for enhancing worker protections and ensuring their fair and reasonable treatment in PFI projects, based on the following principles: • being open with staff by providing greater transparency about workers' rights and through involving staff and their representatives in the contracting out process and its outcome through mechanisms such as the Statement of Practice on Staff Transfers in the Public Sector; • protecting terms and conditions for both transferees and new joiners to PFI workforces through the Retention of Employment model and soft services testing in the NHS and the Best Value Code of Practice on workforce issues, which applies to staff in Best Value local authority PFI projects; • protecting staff pensions through the Fair Deal for Staff Pensions which addressed one of the principal gaps in TUPE regulations covering public and private transfers; and • retaining flexibility in public service delivery, including through PFI, to ensure efficient workforce management and encourage innovation in service delivery. The first stage of the Review of Efficiency in Public Services will be completed later this month. It has examined new ways of providing Departments, their agencies and other parts of the public sector with incentives to exploit efficiency savings, and so release more resources for front line delivery. The Review will lay the basis for a continuing programme of work to improve efficiency, as part of the Government's ongoing commitment to improve the value for money and quality of public services without a reduction in the level of terms and conditions for the workforce. |