Where the private sector, or anyone else, has skills, knowledge and resources that can help to deliver a high quality of education and to raise standards, we should use them.

Estelle Morris made remarks of this kind while serving as the UK’s Secretary of State for Education and Skills (2001–2002), during a period when the Labour government was expanding “public–private partnership” approaches in public services. In education policy debates of the early 2000s—covering school improvement, management support, and the use of external providers—ministers often argued that private-sector expertise could be harnessed to raise attainment and improve delivery, provided public accountability and standards were maintained. The quotation reflects that reformist, pragmatic justification for involving non-state actors in education where they were seen as able to contribute capacity, specialist knowledge, or resources.

The statement frames education as a results-driven public mission (“high quality…raise standards”) and treats the private sector as a potential instrument rather than an ideological end in itself. Morris’s emphasis on “skills, knowledge and resources” suggests a managerial view of school improvement: what matters is access to expertise and capacity wherever it exists. The conditional phrasing (“Where…can help…we should use them”) also implies limits—private involvement is justified only insofar as it demonstrably improves outcomes. In the wider politics of education, the quote signals a centrist, partnership-oriented stance that prioritizes measurable improvement over strict boundaries between public and private provision.