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Margaret Hodge is the undisputed queen of austerity-era public finances. Introducing her at the launch of the CBI's Public Services Network last week, Channel 4 news presenter, Cathy Newman, reeled off press coverage hailing Ms Hodge as ‘Labour's Boris Johnson and the rock star of tax avoidance'. It's a moot point as to whether La Reine Margot could achieve anything greater, politically, even as London mayor, in comparison to what she is currently accomplishing at the PAC. CBI general director John Cridland admitted as much when he said that if the next government wants to get value for money from the £187bn a year public service industry after the 2015 General Election, the biggest emphasis has to be on continuity. This is especially the case since the spending plans and envelopes of chancellor George Osborne and shadow chancellor Ed Balls are variations upon a theme. Another constant until the foreseeable end of the decade is that government, as a buyer, will have to improve what Ms Hodge referred to as its sheer ‘hopelessness in setting terms and conditions, monitoring contracts and using sanctions effectively'. How ministers hope to square this circle, without paying the going rate for skilled industry experts able to usher in the commissioning era on the public sector's terms, remains another matter. The solutions are: greater competition to open up the market to new entrants and prevent the firms with wallets big enough to bid for complex deals forming private sector monopolies, open book accountancy – letting the public sector know profit margins and what is happening within a deal and greater transparency, publishing government deals online and letting the National Audit Office (NAO) roam at will. But, as Amyas Morse, head of the NAO lamented, the important thing is that contractors deliver upon the reality they have promised, and not soundbites. Mr Morse conceded there was not an ‘even interchange', given lower commissioning skills in Whitehall compared with their sharper-suited commercial suppliers. The taxpayer must rely on government contractors discovering a higher ethical purpose and overcoming human frailty by deliberately not exploiting a glaring weakness for gain. Boardrooms will presumably echo to the commercial equivalent of St Augustine's prayer: ‘Lord give me chastity, but just not now.'

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Inside View: Hodge reigns supreme

By Jonathan Werran | 12 March 2014

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