The Third Sector Research Centre (TSRC) has called for more research into whether commissioning leads to better public services, citing a lack of independent evidence.

Studying research evidence, debate and policy on public service delivery over the past five to ten years, the Centre says much of the research has focused on the commissioning process and the problems for charities in engaging with it, rather than the end results.

Dr Rob Macmillan, who conducted the review, said: “It seems more attention has been paid to supporting organisations to navigate and cope with the demands of commissioning than how to improve the services they provide to their users.

“We need to know more about the effects of commissioning, especially the impact that it has on services and service users, whose voices and concerns have received little attention.

“The most important question, ‘is the commissioning process leading to better services’, remains unanswered.”