Extent that state intervention and the public sector 'rolled back'
Local government
Thatcher used councils like Wandsworth to promote privatisation by contracting out services
Private firms were encouraged to bid for contracts like bin collection
This was very unpopular as poorer people paid a higher % of their income than the rich
By 1985 staff numbers had fallen by 1/3 in Wandsworth
Poll tax was introduced in 1990 which was based on individuals rather than value of their property
Nationally, the number of government employees fell from 2.5 million to 2.1 million between 1979 and 1995
Rates Act (1984) were introduced on 18 councils after they raised local rates to increase funding
Thatcher introduced the Housing Act of 1980 to detach reliance on local governments
Thatcher cut central government payments from 60% to 49%
It gave people the right to buy for those who lived in a council house for three or more years which meant they could buy their house from the council
Local Government Act (1985) abolished 7 councils which Thatcher found to be troublesome
This was popular as 204,000 council houses were bought between 1982-3
Home ownership rose from 55% to 63% between 1979 and 1990
The lack of council houses made it harder and expensive for councils to house the poorest in society
NHS
By 1996, 34 NHS trusts were in debt and attempts to cut costs impacted the quality of care for non emergency patients
Between 1990 and 1994, there was a loss of 2% of hospital beds
The overall cost of the NHS rose from £25.7 million to £383.8 million
The requirement to meet targets demoralised doctors and nurses as they spent less time caring for patients in order to satisfy managers without medical training
It did not deliver cost savings in the way Thatcher anticipated
Thatcher was unable to roll back the state with the NHS
The reforms were very unpopular with doctors
Despite private health insurance grew from 500,000 in 1955 to 6.6 million in 1990, only 1% of manual workers had private cover
The concept was to attract more demand from GP's so that success would be rewarded with more funding
Majority of British people relied on the state-provided healthcare
Trusts were run by professional managers rather than doctors to ensure performance targets were met and waste was reduced
Between 1980 and 1987 spending on the NHS rose by 60% as a % of the govts spending which is why Thatcher wanted to reduce costs
Health authorities would purchase healthcare services from hospital trusts
The NHS's share rose from 12% to 15% between 1979 and 1996
The 1989 White Paper 'Working for Patients' created an internal market
Education
Poorer families were priced out and their children would attend worse schools
The Act also allowed schools to become grant maintained which would be funded directly by the government
Better schools became oversubscribed as demand for housing within such schools increased
Headteachers and governors could control budgets rather than the LEA
There were league tables which were aimed to allow parents to select better schools for their children
This increased the independence of 1,200 schools (19% of primary schools) which became grant-maintained
The 1988 Education Act imposed a National Curriculum and new methods of assessment
Thatcher did manage to roll back the state in education
A new syllabus was introduced in 1984 and were first taught in 1986 and examined in 1988
Keith Joesph merged the old Certificate of Secondary Education and O-Level into a single GCSE
Thatcher wanted to raise educational standards
Civil service
MINIS was used in other ministries under the Financial Management Initiative
By 1988, 22.5% of civil servants were sacked which would save £1 billion
Thatcher also abolished the Civil Service Department in in 1981 because she saw it as a trade union
The same year, the 'Next Step' report promoted the rise of flexible agencies which would work with the private sector to deliver services
1 in 4 workers at the Environment Ministry were sacked in 3 years
By 1991 there were 57 agencies
When inefficiencies were found, there were job losses
By 1997, 76% of civil servants worked in 100 different agencies
This would monitor the cost and responsibilities of civil servants
Examples are the Benefits Agency (Department of Social Security), Prison Service (Home Office) etc.
Heseltine introduced the Management Information System for Ministers (MINIS)
Thatcher used advisers brought in from outside government to slim down the civil service
There were 732,000 civil servants in 1980