We do need better public services - of that there is no doubt. However, I am not convinced that many of the prescriptions in "Better Public Services" will deliver them.

If you have the impression of a Justice Department fumbling in the dark for new eye-catching schemes to showcase in the run-up to the election, you would probably be right.

The decision to hand over the court interpreting contract to Capita is simply yet another example of the bull-headed belief that subcontracting out services to private firms always leads to a sleeker, more efficient service.

Over the last few decades, there has been an increasing trend to contract businesses to deliver public services. This trend, of course, goes back decades and indeed centuries but began to accelerate during Mrs Thatcher's Government and continued at an even greater pace during Tony Blair and Gordon Brown's thirteen years.

The Wall Street Journal headline "Look Who's Embracing Privatization--Big City Democrats" on 6th July was certainly eye catching to one who has been involved, studied and commentated on public-private partnerships in the UK for over 25 years.

Tragically for those whom it is intended to assist, a programme designed in very different economic conditions and based on a belief that market incentives would drive a range of providers to secure long-term employment for those who have been inactive in the labour market for a long period may end up not delivering.