A LEADING politician has defended the county council’s commissioning process and insists that far fewer services will be privatised than many people fear.

David Thain, county councillor for Redditch and cabinet member for change, said it was likely that many services would still be provided in-house once the project was finished.

It was revealed in January that Worcestershire County Council is trying to cut £20 million a year up to 2017 to balance its books.

It is examining every single service to see if they can be provided for less cost by external providers.

Many services could go the same way as the highways, which are now maintained by Ringway.

Councillor Thain, speaking during a recent meeting of the resources panel, said: “It is very important for me to emphasise commissioning does not necessarily mean outsourcing.

“It means we look at each operation, what we want it to provide and how we can get what we want out of it.

“Often, that means a service can remain in-house simply because in many cases we can do it better than anyone else.

“Commissioning is about getting the best services for people and businesses in Worcestershire. We’ve outsourced the highways and Ringway does a good job with that, but it does not necessarily mean it will happen elsewhere.”

The council is cutting a further 650 jobs up to 2017 on top of the 850 posts which are already being axed.

Under a scheme called BOLD, which stands for Better Outcomes Lean Delivery, more than £100 million will be cut.