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The Politics of Public Sector Reform pp 88–104Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

The Role of the Consumer and Competition

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Abstract

Public service reform is driven not only from the top but also on the frontline where the public interact directly with providers. People expect from the public sector the similar customer-focused service they receive from the private sector for as taxpayers who fund the public sector they regard themselves as customers. Even while not all recipients of public services are taxpayers they still expect to be treated in the same way. As Sir Ronnie Flanagan, a prominent commentator on police reform, noted: ‘As private consumers we do not go out of our way to buy an average product. We aim to buy the best that we can afford and this principle should apply equally, if not more so, to the public sector’.1

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Notes

  1. Sir Ronnie Flanagan (February 2008). The Review of Policing. Final Report. Home Office, p. 13.

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Authors
  1. Michael Burton
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© 2013 Michael Burton

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Burton, M. (2013). The Role of the Consumer and Competition. In: The Politics of Public Sector Reform. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137316240_8

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