| Term Paper Title | Contract Law |
| # of Words | 2856 |
| # of Pages (250 words per page double spaced) | 11.42 |
Contract Law
Obligations II : Contract Law
Using Examples (eg education, health, etc), critically analyse the
role of contract principles in the provision of public sector
services.
Traditionally, there has been a distinction, in essence if not in entirety, between
public sector bodies on one hand, and private firms on the other.Public service areas,
for example schools, hospitals, and the utilities, were under the control of public
bodies such as local government, and stayed at a distance from the sphere of free
markets and the world of contract law. However, since the reforms of the nineteen-
eighties and nineties, such divisions have become far more blurred.
The Conservative governments of Margaret Thatcher, and later John Major, made
radical changes and applied contract principles to the ownership, culture and control
of many of the services that were previously in the public sector. The motivation for
these changes was mainly ideological. The government, influenced by ideas being
introduced by an ideological counterpart government in the United States, believed
that, in crude terms, the market was best. Many nationalised industries, such as
British Telecom and British Airways, who were seen as inefficient, providing poor
quality services or products, that the taxpayer paid for . Such industries were
privatised and exposed to the pressures and opportunities of the free market.
Later on from this, in the late 1980's, the government sought to improve public
services including health, education and the prison service, using similar free-market
ideas and principles. The reasoning was that applying the rigours of market forces
into these areas would improve their cost-effectiveness, the levels of service and so
on. Part of this philosophy, was that of the empowerment of users of these services
(the patients, parents and pupils, etc) by turning them into "consumers" of a product,
contracting with a "supplier" (the hospital, school, etc). This is related to the liberal,
and in particular free market liberal, idea that individuals are their own best judge
about what is best for them. Much of these ideas were developed by free-market think
tanks such as the Adam Smith institute, who believed welfare economics theories
could be applied in the public sector.
For reasons of practicality and public opinion, these services were not privatised, but
had only market ideas incorporated, where seen to be appropriate and possible. The
NHS was not privatised, but had an internal market introduced, with hospitals and
GP's contracting with each other to buy and sell services. The NHS remained funded
by the taxpayer, so that although patients were increasingly seen as consumers, they
did not have a crucial decision associated with consumerism, ie, how, when and
where to spend their money.
The public services reformed in the 1980's and 1990's by Conservative governments,
are now set to undergo further reform by the Labour government, elected in 1997. The
government places it's emphasis on language of partnership and far less on market
driven ideals. It is clear that there will be no whole scale removal of market
mechanisms in public services. Indeed it may be argued that in some areas, for
example education, future planned reforms go even further than those carried out by
Conservative governments it replaced, in terms of contract culture and market
involvement.
It is in the sphere of education that the rest of this essay will concentrate on. The
introduction of market mechanisms, and with it the idea of contract between parties,
such as school and parent, have fundamentally changed the way the education system
is run, and future planned reforms may also expand the role of contract and the
market. In particular, the following areas will be looked at:
(1)The introduction of home-school...Read entire document
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