Your report on the Capita takeover of the Turing exchange scheme from the British Council (Report, 8 December) raises interesting questions about privatisation. As a former British Council officer with direct experience of the tendering of council services, I recognise the advantages of seeking competitive pricing for government-funded schemes. But student exchange is a core area of British Council work, where it has an unbeatable international network of contacts and experience. Privatisation of those services may achieve financial savings, but at what cost?
You comment on Capita’s shortcomings in past contracts, but the issue is much wider than that. Must we have to continue experiencing the kind of failings that we have encountered in the probation and prison services, the chaos of the privatised gas industry, the unacceptable mess in electricity services, the rip-off of Covid testing, the railway muddle, to mention but a few? When will we realise that privatisation is an avoidable evil, requiring judgment rather than dogma?
Roger Iredale
Emeritus professor of international education, University of Manchester
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