56. Transparency is fundamental to accountability, and supports scrutiny of both government and its contractors. We have stressed before the public's right to more visibility of the taxpayers' pound, wherever it is spent. A citizen, whether from the perspective of funding or receiving contracted out public services, should have easy access to meaningful performance information, and be able to draw matters to government's attention where local knowledge and experience casts doubt on what is being reported. The Cabinet Office remarked that parliamentary and press scrutiny has helped focus government attention on poor practice and the need for improvement.[82] Referring to companies delivering services on behalf of government, the CBI stated "It brings with it a greater degree of scrutiny, transparency and behaviour that is commensurate with operating in and delivering public services. That should, rightly, be a given."[83]
57. Both G4S and Serco said they were willing to be more transparent to the public about performance. G4S told us it was working with the CBI on new transparency arrangements, relating to both freedom of information requests and to openness with government departments. Serco described how publication of performance information would itself help drive much better measurement of performance, while also cautioning on the potential barrier to entry that freedom of information obligations could be for SMEs.[84] On extending freedom of information to the taxpayer funded parts of businesses, the CBI was clear that more transparency was required, and that every contract should stipulate the right level of transparency. It also said that both government and contractors have hidden too much behind claims of commercial confidentiality when revealing information publicly.[85] The NAO report highlighted the Cabinet Office's intention to improve the contract details published on its Contract Finder website.[86]
58. We have also said before how there is too much reliance on whistleblowers bringing problems to light. In our March 2014 report we recommended that departments include a standard term in contracts requiring suppliers to have whistleblowing policies in place, and include a requirement for contractors to nominate designated officials within departments to receive disclosures from whistleblowers.[87] The Government disagreed with our recommendation, arguing that the existing legal framework provides substantial protection for whistleblowers and stating that it "expects all suppliers to fully implement the spirit of this legislation". It did not believe additional contractual terms were required.[88] In our view, it is clear that current arrangements have not proved to be adequate and the Chair of the Committee on standards in Public Life also made this point to us.[89] But in any case we are surprised that there is any reluctance in the current climate to implement a fairly straightforward safeguard against contractors not acting fully in the spirit of legislation. We therefore repeat our recommendation in this report and hope to receive a more constructive response.
59. Recommendations: The Cabinet Office should require all service contracts to be published, including a clear expression of the performance the service user can expect and then how contractors are performing.
60. Departments should include a standard term in contracts requiring suppliers to have whistleblowing policies in place. This should require contractors to nominate designated officials within departments to receive disclosures from whistleblowers.
__________________________________________________________________
82 BQ 78
83 BQ 6
84 AQ 25, 66-71
85 BQ 34, 35
86 C&AG's report, Transforming government's contract management, paragraph 3.6
87 Committee of Public Accounts, Contracting out public services to the private sector, HC 777, Session 2013-14, 14 March 2014
88 HM Treasury, Treasury Minutes, Government responses on the Forty Fifth to the Fifty First and the Fifty Third to the Fifty Fifth reports from the Committee of Public Accounts: Session 2013-14, Cm 8871, 19 June 2014 (page 17)
89 BQ 11