Are the Concepts of 'consumerism' and 'consumer Choice' Relevant to the Problem of Improving Public Services

In order to determine whether consumerism and consumer choice are relevant to the problem of improving public services, consumerism and consumer choice need to be evaluated individually. Thus both these two concepts will be analysed in greater detail in the following paragraphs, thus allowing for a conclusion to be drawn as to whether they do improve public services or in fact hinder the public service.

According to Potter, 'Consumerism attempts to redress the imbalance of power that exists between those who produce goods and services, and those for whom they are provided.' (Potter, Public Administration, pg149). Thus it is argued that currently in the public service sector the imbalance in power, often results in those producing and providing the services having more power than those who use and need them. Therefore the concept of consumerism was established in order to combat the imbalance of power. As consumerism is based on redressing the imbalance of power, five key factors were produced in order to help with the redress of power, these five points being, access, choice, information, redress and representation. All these five points will be analysed in greater detail, in order to understand how the concept of consumerism impacts on the public service sector.

Due to the nature of certain public services, deciding who shall have access to each service can not be placed in the hands of the consumer and therefore should be seen as a political responsibility. Thus this needs to be managed effectively as to ensure only those that need the services have access to them. Potter also argues that 'those who pay for public services and those who benefit from them are not necessarily the same people; the cardinal consumer principle of access cannot be translated into an automatic consumer right.' (Potter, Public Administration, pg151). As the decision to who has access to the services lies in the hands of the politicians, it is essential that the correct decision are made, thus it is argued that all criteria used to base the decision on who shall have access to the services, should be brought out into the open allowing for public access. This is needed in order to allow the consumer to evaluate the criteria used to base the decision and also allows the consumer to appeal against any decision of denial of access to a service. By improving access to the criteria for a service, it provides the consumer with more power to make effective appeals for the services and allows the consumer to challenge existing criteria used in order to make the service available to more of the public.

As seen in the concept of access, public services are not an automatic right and thus this concept also applies to the factor of choice. Thus this does not mean that consumers have no choice at all within the public service, just certain services may not provide the option of choice and thus the consumer may not be able to exercise their right to choice. This is clearly evident in the provision of prison services, the end user of the service will obliviously not be given the right to chose if they go to prison or not. 'The provision of public services usually involves redistributing costs and benefits within society, individual consumer choice cannot be the sole driving force that dictates who benefits and who pays'. (Potter, Public Administration, pg 151). The concept of consumer choice will be discussed in greater detail further on in the essay.

In order for consumers to make well informed decisions about the services they may wish to use they need sound and reliable information, in order to make the correct decision. It is essential that the consumer receives the correct detailed information about the services, as often the people that use the public services are in a position of needing help and thus a decision based on incorrect or lack of information, could prove to be costly for the consumer. It is argued that if the consumer is provided with the right amount of correct information based on the services, it can provide the consumer with the power to influence change. Potter suggests that 'information about goals and objectives; about the standards of service authorities aim to provide, and the standards achieved; about their rights to a service, and their responsibilities in using them.' (Potter, Public Administration, pg153). This kind of information is the information that the consumers need in order to make the correct decisions and if the information is used effectively allows the consumer to challenge the public service and thus influence change within the service.

Redress mechanisms should be in place in the public service in order to deal with consumer complaints and grievances. Thus these mechanisms if used effectively should resolve any issues that the consumer brings up and thus resulting in an improvement in consumer satisfaction and thus improving the service. Thus we can see that the redress mechanisms also allow for the service to closely evaluate where they are going wrong based on consumer feedback and thus improving quality within the public sector, therefore the redress mechanism is not only a benefit to the consumer but can also be used by the public service sector as a quality control mechanism. Investigations were done into the complaints procedures within a local government , the reports showed that only one in five complaints were analysed within the social service departments. Thus this clearly shows there is room for improvement within the public sector services, by reinforcing the redress mechanisms it will allow the service to see where it is underachieving and thus allowing for the service to redress the issue and improve that part of the service. The reports also showed that even if the complaints were been analysed, the view of the public sector workers, was that of that the consumer did not know what they were talking about and that they were not the experts. Eradication of attitudes like this within the public service sector would greatly improve the service provided.

'Views of consumers should be adequately represented to decision makers at all points in the system where decisions are taken concerning their interests.' (Potter, Public Administration, pg154). Thus representation is put in place to ensure that the consumer's views are taken on board and thus allowing the consumer to be heard and thus transferring the balance of power over to the consumer. Representation of consumer views is needed in order to ensure that elected members that make decisions within the public service, make their decisions taking on bored the consumers views. Despite these members being elected by the consumers to make the decisions for them, the elected members cannot possibly identify each individual consumer need and concerns. Thus this then