Ministers have launched a review of their choice policy for the public sector, with the aim of identifying barriers and increasing diversity of provision.
Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander and Cabinet Office minister Oliver Letwin appointed David Boyle, a fellow of the New Economics Foundation, to lead the Independent Choice Review.A ‘right to choose’ currently exists in a range of services, including early years childcare, schools and health services. Boyle will examine the extent to which this is taken up, what barriers prevent choice, and what needs to be done to make it available to all.
The review is the next step in the government’s Open Public Services reform plans, first launched last July, which aim to open up services to new providers.
Letwin said that the government ‘strongly believes that choice can be empowering and drive up the performance of those providing services’.
He added: ‘But it only really works if everyone, irrespective of where they live or what they do, has an equal access to those choices. That’s why I am very pleased that David Boyle has agreed to carry out this independent review, which will help us to deliver fair and equal choices for everyone.’
Alexander said that opening up public services was a priority for the government. ‘Giving everyone a fair opportunity to exercise choice in the public services they use is an important way of achieving this,’ he said.
‘This review is an excellent opportunity for the public to get involved and help us to deliver the choices in public services that are right for them.’
Boyle, who has previously examined the effectiveness of public services in a series of reports for the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts think-tank, today issued a call for evidence.
He urged all those involved in services – commissioners, providers and users – to submit information on their experience.
‘If you are a service user with a personal experience of choice in public services, either successful or unsuccessful, I would be extremely grateful to hear from you,’ he added.‘In fact, I am particularly keen to hear positive stories because I have a sense that it is the variety of ways that choice actually works that may give us the clues we need to suggest solutions when it doesn’t.’
