Privatising the state

...but not in the way any sane member of the public would want. Ian Parker-Joseph, writing at the Libertarian Party blog, has a very interesting post about the bureaucracy setting up private companies (limited by guarantee) to perform work that you or I would expect to be state-run. The examples he gives are the Association of Chief Police Officers and SOLACE (Society of Local Authority Chief Executives and Senior Managers).

As Ian PJ points out, SOLACE advises on recruiting local authority chief executives and setting their salary levels. It includes several chief executives on its board, so there is a clear conflict of interest. As he says, it's a pretty clear case of racketeering.

One other interesting facet of this scandal which Ian doesn't pick up on is the fact that structuring these bodies outside the public sector makes them immune to Freedom of Information requests.

Handy, that.

Comments

[Lloyd]

The goal should not be to "privatize" bureaucracy, but rather to do away with most if not all of their functions. Recall what they are in reality: government organizations - with all that implies including use of force and immunity from suit as well as no requirement for disclosures - who make rules with input only from "special interest groups" which rules are then enforced, sometimes and someplaces by unconstitutional or at least ultra vires means, arbitrarily and generally for the actual benefit of the members of the bureaucracy. In the context of a hypothetical libertarian polity, such power couldn't be allowed in government at all, let alone in "private" organizations. Plainly, this is a misunderstanding of libertarian ideas and goals.

[James P]

The Criminal Records Bureau is already run by C(r)apita, who have managed to misidentify several thousand applicants as criminals. I gave up a voluntary post in our village school, which was happy to have me (my own son was educated there), but the LA wouldn't accept that CRB checks were unreliable.

I'm sure there is plenty more of this to come...

[Bishop Hill]

Lloyd.

Not sure what you're getting at. Nobody is saying this has anything to do with libertarianism. IPJ is just pointing out a scam.

[Lloyd]

My apologies, Bishop Hill.