Ministers have overplayed the benefits of giving consumers access to a wider range of health and education providers, according to MPs.

In a report out yesterday, the public administration committee said the "rhetoric does not match the reality".

Although MPs welcomed efforts to give users a wider choice of providers, they concluded that despite encouraging signs, it was "too early to say whether 'choice', especially wider choice of service provider, will provide the benefits of greater efficiency, higher standards and better performance which its supporters claim for it".