ProCure 21 is prepared for privatisation

Transferring ProCure 21 to the private sector is one of a number of options being considered following the abolition of NHS Estates.
CJ has learned that Department of Health (DoH) officials are looking at ways of transferring ProCure 21 to the private sector, as part of a drive to cut the cost of the department's Arm's Length Bodies (ALBs) by £500m during the next three years.
One source told CJ: "There is a move to outsource as many civil servant functions as possible, so that they are no longer on the government's books. One way is to put these ALB functions into not-for-profit companies."
The government's recent report, Reconfiguring the Department of Health's Arm's Length Bodies, which revealed the abolition of 18 ALBs, including NHS Estates, recommends a number of private sector models to which centralised NHS services could be transferred.
These include the NHS Foundation Trust model, companies limited by guarantee and community interest companies (CICs).
The report states: "These models combine commercial discipline with public sector safeguards and can be operated within a framework of standards and inspection."
Observers say if ProCure 21 is privatised, it would probably be in the form of a CIC. The DoH report says: "CICs are intended for social entrepreneurship, but it is possible that the NHS or the DoH could contract with a CIC for the delivery of certain services."
Specialist Engineering Contractors' Group chief executive Rudi Klein said any plan to outsource ProCure 21 to the private sector would be a disaster.
"There is not one example of a good government initiative being run well in the private sector. This programme must be kept intact, kept in the public sector and kept fully resourced."
Lord Warner, DoH parliamentary under secretary, has written to both Klein and Be chief executive Don Ward in response to their concerns about ProCure 21.
The letter acknowledged the initiative "has achieved a huge amount since it was launched", added that the government is "keen to encourage construction framework initiatives", but said "precise details of the way the new structures will unfold" cannot be given yet.
In a letter responding to these points, Ward called for the DoH to raise its game. He wrote: "Our ambition for ProCure 21 is far greater - the opportunity is for world-class facilities that enable far superior quality of patient care, delivered ever-faster and at ever-lower costs.
"ProCure 21 has the potential to achieve this, more so than any other approach, but only if it is managed in a first-class way. Thus I can add my voice to the calls of other industry organisations to retain ProCure 21 as part of an NHS Estates function within the Department of Health."
Klein's response to Lord Warner's letter stated: "I must press you for assurances that the current resources available to ProCure 21 will continue to be made available."
Last month, Klein and Ward warned against NHS Estates being absorbed into a general NHS procurement unit (CJ 25 August), saying it would endanger the achievements of the ProCure 21 initiative.