Tom Watson MP, Deputy Leader of the Labour Party and Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office, responding to news that the Government is to review many contracts with ATOS, said:

“The Chancellor has to realise he cannot outsource responsibility for second-rate public services. The Osborne years have been characterised by a huge increase in the number of privatised services and a corresponding decrease in accountability and efficiency.

“As a growing number of these hurried privatisations begin to come unstuck the Cabinet Office has been asked to carry out a review to save George Osborne’s blushes. But until private providers of taxpayer-funded services are subject to the same transparency and accountability rules as their public counterparts, whatever steps the Cabinet Office takes to improve services are bound to fail.”