Call centres providing a range of public services are managed better by private sector companies. They provide a better service and make more effective use of staff. These are conclusions from the National Audit Office report ‘Using Call Centres to Deliver Public Services’.The NAO survey found that call centres managed by private sector companies are generally better equipped, particularly with IT systems. 

More than 100 council leaders have signed up to a pledge that commits their councils to either give or receive support to improving services. 

By John Redwood and Nick SeatonThe authors calculate that if all the money followed the child, state schools would have a sum equivalent to the independent sector. They argue that with this funding all state schools could be freed from government and given the same legal status as an independent school. Headteachers would then have the same degree of autonomy and the state would pay a specified sum - in the region of 5,000 pounds per year - directly to the school.