Attitudes To Public Services Reform
British people want to see reform in public services, but have mixed views on choice, according to new research from MORI Social Research Institute. The survey, for the Radio 4 'Today' programme, shows that when asked to choose between two policy statements, more than half (53%) of British people preferred the statement 'Paying more taxes to ensure a good quality hospital near your home'. Meanwhile, just over two in five (43%) opted for the statement 'Having no increase in taxes but a choice of receiving treatment in a hospital anywhere in the country'.
- MORI interviewed 1,002 British adults aged 16+
- Fieldwork conducted by telephone between 2-4 July 2004
- Data are weighted to the national population profile
- Base size is 1,002 unless otherwise stated
- Some questions have been split-sampled. If this happens results for individual splits and combined answers are provided where applicable
- An asterisk (*) indicates a finding of less than 0.5%, but greater than zero
- Where percentages do not add up to exactly 100% this may be due to computer rounding, the exclusion of "don't knows" or to multiple answers
Topline Results
For some questions where we have split the sample, we were trying to test the effect of providing respondents with additional information. For instance, QB1 and QB2 are identical statements, except the former had "in the same way as the private sector does" in the statement. As the results below illustrate, mentioning the private sector in this way does not have a statistically significant impact on public opinion. Similarly, by reading out two sides of the argument about the use of providing a subsidy for private healthcare or schooling (see questions 5-8) does not seem to have a statistical impact on public opinion. As well as providing the results for each split sample, we have also combined the results for ease of reference.
Q1. How strongly do you agree or disagree that...?
| Strongly agree | Tend to agree | Neither agree nor disagree | Tend to disagree | Strongly disagree | Don't know | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % | % | % | % | % | % | |
| A) Public services such as health and education should be funded by the taxpayer and be available free at the point of use to all citizens? | 61 | 24 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 1 |
| B1) Britain's public services need to start treating users and the public as customers in the same way as the private sector does (Base: 501 adults) | 53 | 26 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 4 |
| B2) Britain's public services need to start treating users and the public as customers (Base: 501 adults) | 53 | 28 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 4 |
| B) Britain's public services need to start treating users and the public as customers (in the same way as the private sector does) | 53 | 27 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 4 |
| C) Private companies should not be involved in providing public services under any circumstances | 18 | 19 | 17 | 26 | 16 | 4 |
Q2. Which, if either, of the following statements best reflects your feelings towards the NHS?
| % | |
|---|---|
| The NHS is critical to British society and we must do everything to maintain it | 63 |
| The NHS was a great project but we probably can't maintain it in its current form | 35 |
| Don't know | 3 |
Q3. If you had to choose between these two policies, which would you prefer?
| % | |
|---|---|
| Paying more taxes to ensure a good quality hospital near your home | 53 |
| Having no increase in taxes but a choice of receiving treatment in a hospital anywhere in the country | 43 |
| Don't know | 5 |
Split sample Qq4a and Q4b
Q4a. If you had to choose between these two policies, which would you prefer?
Base: 501 adults
| % | |
|---|---|
| Offering patients a wide choice of hospitals will help push up standards for everyone using the NHS | 74 |
| Offering patients a wide choice of hospitals in the NHS will mostly benefit the better-off and better-educated patients | 21 |
| Don't know | 5 |
Q4b. Which of these statements comes closest to your own view?
Base: 501 adults
| % | |
|---|---|
| Offering parents a wide choice of schools will help push up standards for all state schools | 59 |
| Offering parents a wide choice of state schools will mostly benefit the better-off and better-educated | 30 |
| Don't know | 11 |
Split sample Q5a/6a and Q5b/6b
All taxpayers contribute to the funding of the NHS whether or not they personally use the health service. Some people think that patients who choose to go private should be given some money back from the government to contribute to the cost of their private healthcare, others feel that doing this will restrict other people's access to good quality treatment on the NHS.
To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statements?
Base: 501 adults
| Strongly agree | Tend to agree | Neither agree nor disagree | Tend to disagree | Strongly disagree | Don't know | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % | % | % | % | % | % | |
| Q5a) It is right for public money to be used to subsidise private healthcare | 9 | 14 | 5 | 21 | 49 | 2 |
| Q5b) It is right for public money to be used to subsidise private healthcare so long as this does not restrict other people's access to good quality treatment on the NHS | 23 | 31 | 5 | 14 | 26 | 1 |
To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statements?
Base: 501 adults
| Strongly agree | Tend to agree | Neither agree nor disagree | Tend to disagree | Strongly disagree | Don't know | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % | % | % | % | % | % | |
| Q6a) It is right for public money to be used to subsidise private healthcare | 8 | 13 | 5 | 24 | 48 | 2 |
| Q6b) It is right for public money to be used to subsidise private healthcare so long as this does not restrict other people's access to good quality treatment on the NHS | 20 | 33 | 5 | 13 | 26 | 1 |
Combined Q5a/6a and Q5b/6b
All taxpayers contribute to the funding of the NHS whether or not they personally use the health service. Some people think that patients who choose to go private should be given some money back from the government to contribute to the cost of their private healthcare, others feel that doing this will restrict other people's access to good quality treatment on the NHS. To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statements?
| Strongly agree | Tend to agree | Neither agree nor disagree | Tend to disagree | Strongly disagree | Don't know | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % | % | % | % | % | % | |
| Q5a/6a) It is right for public money to be used to subsidise private healthcare | 9 | 14 | 5 | 22 | 48 | 2 |
| Q5b/6b) It is right for public money to be used to subsidise private healthcare so long as this does not restrict other people's access to good quality treatment on the NHS | 21 | 32 | 5 | 13 | 26 | 1 |
Split sample Q7a/8b and Q7b/8b
All taxpayers contribute to the funding of state schools whether or not they personally use them. Some people think that parents who choose to use private schools should be given some money back from the government to contribute to the cost of their child's private schooling, others feel that doing this will restrict other parent's access to good quality state schools.
To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statements?
| Strongly agree | Tend to agree | Neither agree nor disagree | Tend to disagree | Strongly disagree | Don't know | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % | % | % | % | % | % | |
| Q7a) It is right for public money to be used to subsidise private schools | 6 | 8 | 3 | 23 | 58 | 1 |
| Q7b) It is right for public money to be used to subsidise private schools so long as this does not restrict other parent's access to good quality of state schools | 15 | 28 | 4 | 18 | 33 | 1 |
To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statements?
| Strongly agree | Tend to agree | Neither agree nor disagree | Tend to disagree | Strongly disagree | Don't know | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % | % | % | % | % | % | |
| Q8a) It is right for public money to be used to subsidise private schools | 5 | 8 | 3 | 23 | 60 | 1 |
| Q8b) It is right for public money to be used to subsidise private schools so long as this does not restrict other parent's access to good quality of state schools | 13 | 25 | 5 | 17 | 39 | 1 |
Combined Q7a/8a and Q7b/8b
[All taxpayers contribute to the funding of state schools whether or not they personally use them. Some people think that parents who choose to use private schools should be given some money back from the government to contribute to the cost of their child's private schooling, others feel that doing this will restrict other parent's access to good quality state schools.]
To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statements?
| Strongly agree | Tend to agree | Neither agree nor disagree | Tend to disagree | Strongly disagree | Don't know | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % | % | % | % | % | % | |
| Q7a/8a) It is right for public money to be used to subsidise private schools | 6 | 8 | 3 | 23 | 59 | 1 |
| Q7b/8b) It is right for public money to be used to subsidise private schools so long as this does not restrict other parent's access to good quality of state schools | 14 | 27 | 4 | 17 | 36 | 1 |
Q9. Do you think that giving people a government subsidy to use private hospitals will make the NHS better, worse or make no difference at all?
| % | |
|---|---|
| Better | 21 |
| Worse | 31 |
| No difference | 41 |
| Don't know | 6 |
Q10. Do you think that giving people a government subsidy to use private schools will make the state schools better, worse or make no difference at all?
| % | |
|---|---|
| Better | 12 |
| Worse | 36 |
| No difference | 46 |
| Don't know | 6 |
