Cabinet Office

Improve public services by working with departments to redesign services around the needs of customers and embed the four principles of public service reform, with progress measured by survey evidence.
(Objective 4)

Office of Public Service Reform (OPSR) will measure the achievement of this PSA in the following three ways:

1. OPSR will confirm with Departments their plans for embedding the four principles (see below for details) into their policy-making and service delivery over the Spending Review period and will regularly monitor and report on actual progress against these plans. Success will be defined by the extent to which Departments achieve he plans they make for embedding the four principles.
2. OPSR will regularly survey senior managers in public services and senior civil servants to measure their perception of progress in embedding the four principles. Success will be defined by the extent to which managers perceive progress each year.
3. OPSR will track changes in the levels of customer satisfaction with public services, making particular use of the 7 departmental PSAs which contain an explicit measure of customer satisfaction (Health SA5, Home Office PSA1, LCD/Home Office/CPS PSA3, DWP PSA9, NIO PSA1, C&E PSA4, IR PSA5). Success will be defined by the extent to which Departments’ targets for improving customer satisfaction (as set out in their delivery plans etc.) are achieved.

The four principles are:

1. It is the government's job to set national standards that really matter to the public, within a framework of clear accountability, designed to ensure that citizens have the right to high quality services wherever they live.
2. These standards can only be delivered effectively by devolution and delegation to the front-line, giving local leaders responsibility and accountability for delivery, and the opportunity to design and develop services around the needs of local people.
3. More flexibility is required for public service organisations and their staff to achieve the diversity of service provision needed to respond to the wide range of customer aspirations. This means challenging restrictive practices and reducing red tape; greater and more flexible incentives and rewards for good performance; strong leadership and management; and high quality training and development.
4. Public services need to offer expanding choice for the customer. Giving people a choice about the service they can have and who provides it helps ensure that services are designed around their customers. An element of contestability between alternative suppliers can also drive up standards and empower customers locked into a poor service from their traditional supplier.

Ensure that the Civil Service becomes more open and diverse, by achieving by 2004-05 the agreed targets of: 35% Senior Civil Service (SCS) to be women; 25% of top 600 posts to be filled by women; 3.2% of the SCS to be from ethnic minority backgrounds and 3% of the SCS to be people with disabilities
(Objective 4)

We will achieve this through:

• Ensuring that we make best use of resources in all business areas by identifying opportunities for improving efficiency and effectiveness at the business planning stage starting in 2003/04.
• The Departmental Change Programme focusing on areas where targeted investment will yield productivity improvements starting in 2003/04.
• Improving financial reporting and monitoring of divisional expenditure, and using in-house expertise and resource to manage benefits realisation of all qualifying new projects starting in April 2003.