Shadow State: Inside the Secret Companies that Run Britain
Alan White

Until the G4S Olympics debacle, public service commissioning had very rarely made the front pages. This is strange, because it's a huge industry. The current outsourced market for public services has an annual turnover of £82bn, representing around 24 per cent spend on public services in the UK. Under the Coalition, it's getting bigger.

            We now can't afford a company like Serco to fail: it deals with prisons, health and social care, transport services, maintenance services for missile defence, air traffic control, pathology, government websites and waste collection, among other services. Outsourced public services have an impact on the entire economy, in terms of wage levels, benefit demands and spending power. It matters because these services are vital to our social fabric. What happens to a child in a children’s home or a prisoner in jail affects all of us. Should these services be delivered for profit? And exactly what is happening in the shadow state? Until now, the public has had precious little idea.

• The first ever long-form survey of the outsourcing industry.
• A continuation of Alan White's acclaimed "Shadow State" series for the New Statesman.
• Will feature exclusive interviews with Government ministers, executives from outsourcing companies, and campaigners fighting to prevent their expansion.
• Will tell the story of the outsourcing industry from beginning to present,
• Will expose, for the very first time, a number of fresh examples of system failure in the social care system, in our justice system, and in health care.