GRIMSHAW, Damian <br/><br/>
Going privately :  partnership and outsourcing in UK public services 

 -  2002 
<br/><br/> Public private partnerships provide an important illustration of the way the traditional role of government as employer and service provider is being transformed. While policy-makers argue that the growing role of the private sector is note driven by ideological thinking - that, in fact, both public and private sector organizations can benefit from working together in partnership relations- in practice it is the norms and rules of private sector management that underpin reforms. This paper assesses evidence freom two detailed case studies of parnershipos and demonstrates, first, that there is little evidence of mutual gains from partnership arrangements and, second, that because of an imbalance of power between public and private sector partners, any gains achjieved are not disributed equitably. These results suggest that current reforms need to be refocused around building on the distingctive qualities of services provision in the public sector, rather than expanding the private sector world of markets and contracts