The IPA's preferred approach to the provision of goods and services allows the free interplay of demand and supply. Such an approach has long been demonstrated to offer the lowest cost goods and services and the diversity of supply that the market commonly requires. Our view is not founded on some ideological prejudice, but on vast experience of how goods and services are provided most efficiently. The approaches to the provision of child care can follow one of two routes. The alternative is to insist on rigorous publication of information on the centre so that parents can choose the quality they consider appropriate to their needs, preferences and resources.
Child care is an important matter for parents.
Choice of centre is not a decision that will be undertaken without major consideration. This places pressure on the centre to perform in order to gain and retain its customer base. With open access to the provision of child care services, each centre must continuously strive to provide value. This market based approach allows needs and offerings to be matched without the intercession of a bureaucracy. Where a bureaucracy is vested with responsibility to ensure a standard is maintained, it is likely that users will be less vigilant in undertaking these tasks themselves.