Having a choice in the provision of public services has to be a good thing doesn’t it? It will create a sense of competition between providers which will drive up standards for fear of losing valuable customers to the rival organisations. People will be able to express their preference in the only way that we seem to understand these days and that is by money. Provide a good service and you get more customers. Get more customers and you can get more money and if you can get more money you can provide more services and so get more customers. It is a virtuous circle.
But can the users of public services really express a choice, indeed can they really be considered as customers? When they are being scraped off the road following a car accident do they really want the opportunity to refuse a particular ambulance and request to be taken to a hospital further away as they have a good record in trauma care (We won’t make a trauma out of a crisis)?
Can it really make sense to provide multiple options for refuse collection that must adhere to the same standards of disposal, land fill levies and recycling targets? How about competing benefits providers where customers could go down the road to an alternative because they are offering a better rate? Then there is the tax office, or buying your road vehicle licence and the list goes on. It all sounds good in theory but how would it work in practice, how would competing organisations be able to differentiate their offer in order to provide a true choice?
A lot of public services require a delivery point and so to make the most of a real choice then the customer or consumer is required to travel and this means that choice becomes the privilege of the better off. They can travel further as they are more mobile, they have the means to get to alternative locations and so there is a direct relationship between having more money and having more choice. If choice leads to better service, then having more money will get you there.
If you allow people to have a real choice over public service provision then they must be prepared to suffer the ultimate conclusion, the vicious circle where customers decline, funding is cut and the service becomes unsustainable. Choice of provision will mean that public services must be allowed to fail and to go bust.
Is this the kind of choice people would really look for?
Thoughts from a Guerrilla Worker 