DFID's Public Service Agreement and Service Delivery Agreement

The terms Public Service Agreement and Service Delivery Agreement are increasingly used in the public sector. Here you can find out what they mean.

As part of the 2000 Spending Review, in which three-year funding across the different parts of the government was determined, all government departments agreed to a set of objectives and targets with HM Treasury. These departmental Public Service Agreements (PSAs) established a set of objectives and targets that each department is working towards over the period 2001-2004. DFID has its own Public Service Agreement.

The implication is that departmental budgets will be linked increasingly to how well each department performs in relation to its Public Service Agreement.

For DFID, the Public Service Agreement is a short statement of the international poverty reduction outcomes that DFID will focus on between now and 2004. It confirms DFID's aim as the elimination of poverty in poorer countries and sets out objectives and targets to achieve this.

The Public Service Agreement reflects DFID's overall approach as set out in the 1997 and 2000 White Papers on International Development and, in particular, their focus on the International Development Targets.

The Service Delivery Agreement (SDA) focuses on the processes DFID supports to ensure that the targets in the Public Service Agreement are met. For example, tackling HIV/AIDS (SDA objective II. VII) is essential to promoting sustainable development (PSA objective II). The Service Delivery Agreement also includes additional targets and commitments as part of UK government-wide modernisation initiatives.

• The New Public Service Agreement 2003-2006
• The New Service Delivery Agreement 2003-2006
• The Public Service Agreement sets out DFID's objectives and targets;
• The Service Delivery Agreement shows how DFID will meet them;
• The New Technical Note. PDF version and HTM version
• The Technical Note explains how progress will be measured;
• The Investment Strategy shows how DFID uses capital assets.

The International Development Targets are achievable. But early progress towards meeting them has to be secured now; the practical contribution DFID intends to make over the next three financial years is contained in the set of documents on this Public Service Agreement page. The documents are a public statement of how DFID will spend the money, rising to £3.5 billion in 2003/04, allocated in the Government's latest spending plans. They include measurable targets against which DFID's performance can be judged.

The Public Service Agreement lays out DFID's four main objectives and six targets, covering: the focus on poverty, co-ordination of UK efforts with those of others, emphasis on improving education and health outcomes, and better value for money and effectiveness. This can be read as a stand-alone statement.

For those wishing more detail, each PSA objective is hyperlinked to the relevant part of the Service Delivery Agreement, explaining the concrete ways in which DFID will deliver the objective, and to the Technical Note, describing how progress will be measured and containing definitions of key terms and statistical references. This means that the three documents can either be read separately or in parallel. The Investment Strategy covers DFID's use of capital assets and new investment, mainly offices, information systems and shareholdings in international development banks.

Taken together, these papers set out not only DFID's commitment to work with others in the international community in a realistic and focused way towards achieving the International Development Targets, but also what the public are entitled to expect from DFID by March 2004. Further material on the Government's development strategy is contained in the 1997 White Paper and DFID's Target Strategy Papers.

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