New Delhi, June 29 -- £24.4 billion.

nine percent of all public sector procurement, reaching simultaneously into children's homes, nurseries, veterinary practices, petrol forecourts, and the emergency care infrastructure of the NHS.

The breakdown runs along two axes. Approximately £14.6 billion flowed through central government procurement; £9.8 billion through local authorities. Local councils are the revealing number, because they are the bodies with the least fiscal flexibility and the fewest alternatives. Nearly ten percent of their external spending goes to private equity-controlled entities delivering residential children's care and special educational needs provision. The Department for Education alone sends roughl...