Deregulation of employment and services starting in the 1980's created the conditions for the different kinds of privatisation that have characterised public services in the UK. The latest figures indicate that almost one fifth of public services - worth £60 billion - will be delivered by private and voluntary bodies by 2006-7.
PPPs are a major mechanism for introducing the private sector into public services, especially sensitive services like health, prisons and education. The most common form of PPP in the UK is the Private Finance Initiative. Introduced in 1992 by a cash strapped Conservative government that needed to boost public investment without increasing public borrowing, the great attraction of PFI is that projects are mostly off the public sector balance sheet, enabling the government to keep within the restrictions set by economic and stability pact as well as defer payments to future.
A recent government drive on "efficiency" will force more services to be outsourced and more services to become PPPs to meet stringent targets for making savings at every level of government. In particular, the types of Strategic Service Delivery Partnerships pioneered in local government will be introduced more widely and in other sectors.
There are slight variations to PPP programmes in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.