127. The Government's information about contracts and their performance has also been criticised in recent years. The IfG said recently that "there is no centrally collected data outlining the scope, cost and quality of contracted public services across government".284 The Government itself has admitted that it has a problem with the data it holds about contracts. Liam Maxwell, the Government's National Technological Advisor, has said that "we need to find our way of analysing that [procurement spending] effectively, so we can see where we are spending our money and how we are spending our money. We haven't systematically done that."285 The NAO estimated in 2015 that only 31 per cent of government contracts had open book clauses allowing the Government access to the provider's information about a service.286 In some cases, the Government relied on contractor information about performance without any verification.287
128. These problems with data are not confined to the data held within the contract. As our predecessor Committee's report, Accounting for Democracy: Making Sure Parliament, the People and Ministers Know How and Why Public Money is Spent, made clear, the Government often lacks data about the services it provides, including cost and performance data.288 This has an obvious impact on the Government's ability to buy in some of these services, as it does not often know how much they cost or what reasonable performance should look like.
129. Alongside more data, we heard calls for more transparency about contractual data. The IfG have said that "in truth, it's currently impossible to find out precisely how well contractors delivering government services perform".289 They say that "while some contract data is published" there are still "gaps in transparency".290 The Information Commissioner argued that the Government needs to modernise the Freedom of Information Act to restore "the public's right to know irrespective of whether the service is delivered by public, private or third sector organisations."291 Representatives of the private sector that we heard from were willing to commit to publishing information about contracts. Serco has called for performance information for contracts to be published by the contracting authority.292 The CBI said that there was little if any information that companies would be unwilling to disclose and that, in their experience, it was public sector authorities rather than private sector companies who obstructed publication.293 In January 2018, the Business Services Association wrote to David Lidington and said that the industry was open to "a reworking and agreement of what is meant by commercially confidential".294
130. Gareth Rhys Williams agreed that this was an area that there is "more we can do".295 Mr Rhys Williams told us that "in many cases … [publication of the key performance indicators on contracts] would be quite helpful", would "focus the mind of the contracting authority on what is the outcome they are most desirous of" and "would allow us to hold these vendors to account more publicly".296 In his speech to Reform, the Minister said that the Government would require "a number of key performance indicators to be published".297 However, the Government did raise concerns about the abilities of small contractors to comply with increased Freedom of Information or other transparency responsibilities.298
131. The Government needs to understand the experience of service users on the ground as well as contractual data about them. The NAO reported in 2014 that there were contracts in which "users of contracted services reported that their experience was less favourable than the departments' assessment of contractor performance".299 The Local Government Ombudsman told us that it found issues in which "individual complaints may point to wider problems in the delivery of a service that has been outsourced".300
132. The Ombudsman reported confusion in local services about who complaints should go to and suggested reform that "seeks to enshrine in our legislation an overarching principle that users of all publicly funded local services should have the right to access an independent ombudsman service".301
133. The Government can only let and manage contracts successfully if it has the right data. The Government admits that it needs to improve its internal data. We are concerned by the fact that the Government has not systematically analysed where and how it spends taxpayers' money on procurement. This includes data not only about current contracts but also about areas that the Government wishes to purchase in the future. We welcome the Government's commitment to improving its data about contracts.
134. We welcome the Government's intention to publish a number of key performance indicators. We also welcome the comments from the private sector in support of this. The Information Commissioner is right to say that transparency is a key principle of democratic government. She is right to insist that, as more diverse models of service delivery develop, the Government should ensure that transparency is not lost.
135. The Government needs to improve its internal information so that it can design, let and manage contracts more successfully. The Committee has made this point before in other contexts. The examples in this report strengthen the case that the Government needs to develop a full understanding of the services it provides to the public. The Government should set out in its response how its strategy to improve management information will tie into its commercial strategy.
136. We understand the Government's concerns about the implications of increased transparency for some smaller contractors, and such requirements should be proportionate. However, we think that the principle that Parliament and the public need to have key information about the delivery of public services is important. The Government should set out in its response to our report which key performance indicators it has decided to publish and its justification for the choice of those indicators. The Government should work with the Information Commissioner to ensure that revisions to the Freedom of Information Act address her concerns.
137. We recommend that the Government should consult with the Local Government Ombudsman and the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman about the problems identified by the Local Government Ombudsman in relation to complaints made about private sector contractors, over whom he has no jurisdiction. We agree with the overarching principle that all users of public services, regardless of who delivers the service, should have the right of access to an independent ombudsman. The Government has already published the Public Sector Ombudsman Bill in draft and this should be amended.
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284 G. Freeguard, L. Campbell, A. Cheung, A. Lilly and Charlotte Baker Whitehall Monitor 2018 The General Election, Brexit and beyond, Institute for Government (January 2018) p. 69
285 Derek du Preez, Liam Maxwell explains rationale behind DCMS taking data control away from GDS Diginomica, April 2018
286 Report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, Open-book accounting and supply-chain assurance Session 2015-16, HC 91-I, p. 7
287 Report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, Transforming Contract Management, Session 2014-15, HC 268, p. 42
288 Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee Accounting for Democracy: making sure Parliament, the people and Ministers know how and why Government money is spent, Fourteenth Report of Session 2016-17, HC 95, pp. 46-7, 51-2
289 Tom Gash, Outsourcing problems at the Ministry of Justice, Institute for Government blog, August 2017
290 G. Freeguard, L. Campbell, A. Cheung, A. Lilly and Charlotte Baker, Whitehall Monitor 2018 The General Election, Brexit and beyond, Institute for Government, January 2018, p. 69
291 LCC0009 (Information Commissioner)
292 LCC0022 (Serco)
293 Q377
294 Open Letter from Business Services Association to David Lidington, 26 January 2018
295 Q798
296 Q802
297 David Lidington, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster speech to Reform, June 2018
298 Q800
299 Report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, Transforming contract management, Session 2014-15, HC 268, p. 20
300 LCC0008 (Local Government Ombudsman)
301 LCC0008 (Local Government Ombudsman)