It's the public service conundrum of the post Credit-Crunch age – how do you wring better, cheaper services out of frozen or even shrinking budgets.

In his Whitehall office, Francis Maude, Minister of State at the Cabinet Office, believes he has, if not the answer, then certainly an answer; hand services over to a new breed of public sector mutual company, and watch productivity soar, absenteeism plummet and services blossom.