6.6 Since 1997 the Government has been, and continues to be, determined to extend the protection of the terms and conditions for staff transferring to the private sector, to address uncertainty and anxiety caused to public sector staff in relation to a PFI, as well as the potential disparity between the terms and conditions of new joiners and transferred staff.
6.7 Over the past six years, the Government has pursued a strategy based on the following principles:
• being open with staff;
• protecting terms and conditions for both transferees and new joiners;
• extending protection to staff pensions; and
• retaining flexibility in the delivery of public services.
6.8 In 1997, the Government made it a priority to review their position and set out a common standard for treatment of workforces to which public sector employers would be pledged, which would create a partnership between employers and trade unions. This was intended to reassure public sector staff that, if transferred to the private sector, not only would their legal rights be respected in all cases, but beyond that, they would be reassured that they would always be treated according to a published standard of good employment practice with a right of appeal before any transfer if they felt that this standard was not being met.
6.9 In 1998 the Cabinet Office published guidance on "Better Quality Services" which reinforced the requirement for fair and reasonable treatment of staff, drew particular attention to the importance of ensuring that the new employer provided access to a good quality pension scheme, and which suggested that the availability of an agreement for staff to transfer past service into the new scheme should be a factor in evaluating bids. It was recognised that this left uncertainty in a number of areas about how staff would actually be treated in practice.