A top civil servant has argued that government moves to make choice in health services a statutory right would give more confidence to innovative provider organisations.

Will Cavendish, executive director of a Cabinet Office implementation group on the issue, said the drive would make explicit what choices patients were entitled to make, and give them a legal right of redress where that choice was not available.

The proposals, which also extend to education and adult social care services, are currently out to consultation under a call to evidence launched in March.

If enacted, they would place a duty on the health secretary to draw up a “choice framework”, setting out what choices should be available to patients and in which services.

Commissioners would be under a duty to provide those options, although the secretary of state could specify that the right to choice was a matter for local determination in some services.

Once in place, the right to choice in a service could only be revoked by an act of Parliament.

Mr Cavendish said: “It’s often quite risky, if you’re investing money or training people up, hiring people, or trying to offer a new kind of service – what if tomorrow the secretary of state changes and decides to completely reverse the policy?

“This [would bring] much greater permanence… you give greater confidence to people who are looking to provide services of the existence of that demand over time.

“There’s a feeling from providers that they would have greater confidence to invest if they knew there was a more permanent choice regime in place.”

He added that the Cabinet Office was “agnostic” about whether services were provided by public or private organisations.

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