Carillion: four years on

The collapse of Carillion was driven by the reckless behaviour of the company’s directors, but the impact of its collapse on the public sector was also down to the government’s approach to outsourcing. Ministers have admitted that approach had often been flawed, and that the system of checks and balances had not worked. Four years on, and as the government seeks to make wholesale changes to procurement regulations, this event will assess whether it has learnt the lessons from Carillion. Key discussion points were: Has the government’s approach to outsourcing changed? How successful have the government’s post-Carillion reforms been? What impact have these reforms had on government procurement during the pandemic? Will the reforms in the proposed procurement bill help prevent future collapses of high-profile outsourcing firms? To discuss these we were joined by: Sally Guyer, Global CEO, World Commerce and Contracting Matthew Rees, Director of the NAO Commercial Hub Gareth Rhys Williams, Government Chief Commercial Officer Kate Steadman, Group Strategy & Communications Director at Serco The event was chaired by Nick Davies, Programme Director at the Institute for Government