Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/253373 
Year of Publication: 
2021
Citation: 
[Journal:] Public Management Review [ISSN:] 1471-9045 [Issue:] (Latest articles) [Publisher:] Taylor & Francis [Place:] London [Year:] 2021
Publisher: 
Taylor & Francis, London
Abstract: 
Analysis of 60,000 contracts awarded by English councils between 2015–19 reveals that austerity constraints are a key predictor of councils outsourcing services to for-profit suppliers, regardless of their political control. Conservative Party-controlled councils are also more likely to contract with for-profit suppliers, although we found no link between Labour-controlled councils and not-for-profit suppliers, nor evidence that political or budgetary factors influence whether councils contract with providers based in their own region. We argue that centrally imposed funding cuts, and a belief that for-profit suppliers represent a cheaper option, could be overriding Labour Party councils' ideological preference for not-for-profit providers.
Subjects: 
Public contracting
political control
austerity
local government
procurement
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Creative Commons License: 
cc-by Logo
Document Type: 
Article
Document Version: 
Published Version






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