Public Private Partnerships: Confidential ‘Research’, A Critique of the Audit Commission’s study of Strategic Service-delivery Partnerships by Dexter Whitfield

A highly critical assessment of the Audit Commission’s recent report, For Better, For Worse, on Strategic Service-delivery Partnerships. It finds ten fundamental flaws ranging from inadequate methodology, no evidence base, employment issues ignored, no audit of private sector investment and no comparison of an alternative in-house approach. The Commission’s claim that the information on which its findings are based is “commercially confidential” makes a mockery of transparency, performance management, democratic accountability and community engagement. The second section of the report uses quotes from the Audit Commission report to highlight the shortcomings in more detail.