The Wrong Package

Press release

The public services in Britain follow their own agenda, not what people want them to do. This is the finding of an opinion poll commissioned from MORI by the Adam Smith Institute. The conclusions are published today as a report entitled The Wrong Package, and co-authored by Dr Madsen Pirie & Professor Robert Worcester.

The results are certain to stir controversy, coming as they do amid an election in which funding of public services is one of the issues. As the authors point out: "It is pertinent to ask if the existing funds are being spent properly, on the things which ordinary citizens would prefer to see them spent."

The new survey looks at three services: police, schools and local government, and looks at the public's priorities. What emerges, say the authors, is a division "between the 'hard' services which the public wants (lower crime, more educated children, and cleaner, safer living space), and various soft options (pursuit of motorists, counselling, community relations)."

"A strikingly clear picture emerges of what the public thinks the priorities should be," say the authors. "These priorities are held, by and large, despite differences in age, gender, social group or region." There are two agendas, says the report. There is the producer agenda and the consumer agenda. And the services are not necessarily doing what people think they should be doing.

Police

The police might think it important to arrest those who use force to defend their property, or to enforce motoring laws such as speed limits, or to offer counselling to crime victims, but these are rated the least important priorities by the general public. What the public want the police to do is:

• Target criminal gangs and organized crime
• Tackle muggings and street crime
• Deter crime by being visible on the streets
• Prevent burglary & recover stolen property

Lowest priority, rated so by 41 percent, is arresting those who defend their property with force. Second lowest (32 percent) is enforcing laws against motorists. Only 12 percent think this is important. Even building good relations with ethnic minority communities has a low priority. By 22 percent to 12 percent, people rate it among the least, rather than the most, important activities. People want the police to concentrate on 'hard' crime first, "to have a crime agenda rather than a social agenda."

Schools

For schools the response is equally clear. By a huge majority (the largest in the entire survey) people say that teaching the basics - reading, writing & comprehension - should be a top priority. 62 percent say this, against only 1 percent who rate this unimportant. There is huge backing for smaller class sizes, with 51 percent to 8 percent saying this matters. Streaming gets the thumbs up by 27 percent to 8 percent rating it as a priority.

And the low priorities? The public does not think school uniforms are important to education, that exams should be the top priority, or that it is important to pay teachers much more. These are rated the least important, though the younger age group (15-24) is much less hostile to exams, and rather more hostile to school uniforms.

Local Government

Top scoring priorities are

• CCTV cameras to deter crime & vandalism
• Keep council estates in good repair
• Tackle litter, graffiti & dog dirt
• Be tough in getting rid of problem families

As the authors put it, "The consumer agenda emerges very clearly from these answers, and it is a very practical one. People want their local authorities to concentrate on things which make a direct difference to their own lives. If they send out a message to local government it is this: cut crime and intimidation; deter vandalism; clean up mess; try to make things look nice."

Bottom of the priority list comes training local government employees in racial awareness. The provision of good library facilities comes second bottom. Third lowest is making counselling available to locals who need it, and fourth is ensuring good pay and conditions for council employees. These are the activities which the public thinks matter the least. For the low priorities, say the authors, "they select the items which do not diminish threats from crime or bullying neighbours, or in any way clean up or improve their living space."

The Wrong Package concludes that "Some of the public services are not attaching enough importance to what the public wants them to do. They are spending time and resources on activities which the public does not value, and not devoting enough effort to what the public does want."

The Adam Smith Institute fully expects the question of public service priorities to feature prominently in the agenda of the next Parliament. Its report asks at the outset if there are huge disparities between what the producers concentrate on doing, and what the public would prefer to see them do. The answer is clearly that there are.

Topline results

MORI interviewed a representative quota sample of 1,918 British aged 15+ on 1-5 March 2001. Interviews were conducted face-to-face, in home, at 190 constituency-based sampling points across Great Britain, as part of MORI's regular CAPI Omnibus survey. Data were weighted to match the known profile of the population.

Q1 Which two or three of these, if any, would you say it is most important for the Police to concentrate on? Q2 And which two or three, if any, would you say are least important?

Q3 Which two or three of these, if any, would you say it is important for schools to do to ensure a high standard of education for British children? Q4 And which two or three, if any, would you say are least important?

Q5 Which two or three of these, if any, do you think it is most important that your local council should do? Q6 And which two or three, if any, would you say are least important?