Call for cap on private profit for public services

Private profits from delivering services such as free school meals and social care should be capped, according to a senior local government figure.

Middlesbrough's Labour Mayor Chris Cooke said austerity had left public services vulnerable to market forces, with private entities frequently not providing the required quality of services.

He made the comments during a visit to the North East by Prime Minister Andy Burnham, who pledged to target corporate profiteering in services such as adult and children's social care.

Cooke, who chairs the Special Interest Group of Municipal Authorities for metropolitan councils in the Midlands and the north of England, said the plans did not go "far enough".

"There are far too many providers with less good practices than a lot of the local authority provision," the mayor said.

"What we are seeing is absolute gouging on pricing which is unfair, so I really welcome some of the reform that's coming on the private sector profiteering, but it is doesn't go quite far enough."

Burnham has said he will tackle profiteering aided by cost-cutting in the care sector by some private companies responsible for services such as care homes and secure accommodation for vulnerable children, describing the approach as "utterly unacceptable".

Cooke, who grew up in foster care, said there should be "a profit cap on anything that is statutorily required".

He cited school meals as a service which should not be left vulnerable to profiteering as it is "a fundamental part of a child's day".

"Profiteering on what is a statutory meal is not moral," he said.

The prime minister, whose dad receives social care, has championed the creation of a national care service integrated with the NHS that would be person-centred, not "over medicalised" and "preventative in character".

He also pledged to hold talks with other parties on the issue.

Follow BBC Tees on X,Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram and listen to Radio Tees on BBC Sounds.