Independent reviewer calls for evidence on barriers to choice in public services
The Government’s independent reviewer into barriers to choice in public services, David Boyle, last week launched a call for evidence.
- Details
Boyle said key questions included:
- Where choices in public services are available, are people – especially disadvantaged people – actually choosing?
- Do they have access to the information, advice, intermediary support they need to choose?
- If not, why not? What are the barriers they face?
- What lessons can be drawn from where choice works successfully?
- What can be done to improve access to real choices for everybody?
The Government’s independent reviewer said that little research had been done into whether people used the extra choice they had been given in recent years and whether choice was only the preserve of “articulate, sharp-elbowed, wealthier people”.
Boyle said: “The question isn’t about the theory of choice, or even really about the ideological purpose of choice. It is to find out what people do with it in practice.”
He added that he was keen to hear from services users or people with personal experience of choice in public services, “either successful or unsuccessful”.
“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,” Boyle said.
The Government announced the review in an update in March this year on its Open Public Services White Paper. Amongst a range of other measures, the update also heralded the possibility of enshrining a right to choice in legislation.
Evidence can be submitted by
Police Misconduct & Vetting Solicitor
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15-09-2025 10:00 am
08-10-2025 10:00 am
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