A Guide to the Service Delivery Agreements

2.1 Each department is publishing a Service Delivery Agreement using a common structure. The detailed structure of the SDA will vary between departments to reflect their different roles and sizes but this chapter provides a guide to the basic structure of the SDA and provides some examples from the SDAs that departments are publishing today.

2.2 The SDA starts with a clear accountability statement of who is responsible for delivering the agreement. The accountable minister has agreed with the Treasury:

how in broad terms the department's high level objectives will be achieved;
how performance will be improved within the department and the bodies responsible to it;
how the department will focus more closely on the needs of consumers of its services;
how the department's human and IT resources will be managed to achieve change; and
the steps in hand to improve policy-making, in line with the Modernising Government White Paper, and in particular the evidence base underpinning policy.

Box 2.1 Main elements of the SDA

Accountability
Delivering Key Results
Improving Performance
Consumer Focus
Managing People
Electronic Government
Policy and Strategy

Delivering key results

2.3 The section on delivering key results sets out how the department will deliver its PSA targets and through what other bodies. It also shows how the department will measure success against any of their objectives that do not have a PSA target. For smaller departments, without a PSA, this section sets out their key performance targets.

Box 2.2
Main elements of the SDA
Example: Delivering Key Results
Department of Social Security SDA

To: make substantial progress towards eradicating poverty by reducing the number of children in poverty by at least a quarter by 2004
[DSS PSA Target 1, Joint with HM Treasury]

The Department of Social Security will:

implement with the Inland Revenue an Integrated Child Credit from 2003 subject to Parliamentary approval, to provide a secure uninterrupted income for families with children that helps them move from welfare to work.
Implement improvements to the child support system to ensure that all eligible parents with care on Income Support receive the child maintenance premium by 2004.

2.4 In this section the department also explains how the information on progress against targets is validated and what checks the information is subject to.

Box 2.3
Checking information on crime
Example: Validating Performance Information
Home Office SDA

All new measures are submitted to the departmental Management Board for approval before being promulgated. Wherever possible, an old measure is abolished wherever a new one is introduced. The department will seek to avoid perverse outcomes through detailed care in the design, planning and implementation and monitoring of all measures.

The Department has a system for tracking performance. Performance measurement is for the most part derived from the statistical series collected by the Department and through surveys, such as the British Crime Survey. These data are verified independently by the Research, Development and Statistics Directorate to ensure compatibility with National Statistics standards. Audit and Assurance Unit and independent Inspectorates conduct a rolling programme of reviews which support and validate performance information systems and delivery of targets.

Improving performance

2.5 The section on improving performance focuses on the internal reforms the department is making to sharpen its focus on raising all performance to the level of the best, to improve value for money and procurement practice, and to tackle fraud.

2.6 The SDA sets out the incentives and structures which will be put in place to improve performance. In particular how the Excellence Model will be used to assess performance and the need for change and the programme of reviews being undertaken in the Better Quality Services (BQS) initiative. The Cabinet Office will work in partnership with other departments to help ensure BQS reviews are used as an effective tool to improve the quality and efficiency of central government services. Many of the SDAs include innovative ideas for incentivising and rewarding better performance.

Box 2.4 Incentives for better performance in international development

Example: Strategies for improving performance
Department for International Development SDA

Performance will be monitored through backward- and forward-looking annual reviews of progress against the objectives established in country and institutional strategy papers, as well as regular reviews of centrally funded initiatives (for example Challenge Funds), focusing on how performance can be improved. In-depth reviews will be conducted every 3-5 years.
Policy and Performance funds have been established for Africa, Asia and the multilateral development institutions, currently ranging from 1-10% of programme budgets. These give flexibility to allocate additional funds to countries and institutions where progress on reform enables them to make effective use of funds in pursuit of poverty reduction.

2.7 Every large department has a high level value for money target in their PSA. The SDA includes supporting targets, in particular targets for specific services and areas of activity, as well as the programme of work in place to improve measurement of value for money. Improving measurement in this area is important to allow government to spot problems and tackle them.

Box 2.5
Getting better value for money
Example: Efficiency in Personal Social Services
Department of Health SDA

Work is well under way to develop a new measure of value for money gain based on the Personal Social Services Performance Assessment Framework (PSS PAF). Local councils are already subject to the disciplines of Best Value, which require them to work towards top quartile performance levels over five years. Achievement of this level of improvement in performance can be expected to yield gains in value for money equivalent to 2.5% savings, year-on-year.

2.8 One way of improving performance is to assess variations in performance between services, in particular between units delivering comparable services, and so identify good performance and bring standards up to the level of the best. In the SDA departments set out their strategy for using this tool.

Box 2.6
Raising standards to the levels of the best
Example: Variations in Performance
Lord Chancellor's Department SDA

From 2001/02 we will be putting in place performance indicators for CLS Partnerships to enable us to measure how individual Partnerships are performing and to allow comparisons to be made and support to be targeted.
Crown Court centres will be sent annual 'Crown Court Annual Reports' containing local and national performance data; comments on this will be made regionally and collated centrally.
For Magistrates' Courts we will publish comparative performance tables on key targets on a cumulative quarterly and annual summary basis, require Magistrates' Courts Committees to report publicly on performance in their annual reports, and begin to incentivise performance in the revised Magistrates' Courts grant allocation. The Magistrates Courts Service Inspectorate (MCSI) and the Youth Justice Board promote performance improvement at a local level.

2.9 The government is a very large purchaser of goods and services and it is committed to improving value for money for the taxpayer in this area as well as behaving as a responsible customer. The Office of Government Commerce (OGC) has been established to improve procurement activity across government through modernization, skilling, e-tendering and strategic partnerships. Departments set out in their SDAs how they are contributing to these procurement objectives.

2.10 Tackling fraud is central to good performance throughout the public sector. The SDA looks at how each department deals with fraud by deceit or by error - both internal fraud by public sector staff and external fraud by third parties such as claimants or contractors.

The MOD adopts a zero tolerance policy on fraud. High standards of propriety and integrity are required and all reported suspicions are investigated, with proven offenders prosecuted and/or dismissed. Line management is charged with responsibility for deterrence and detection through the operation of key controls such as separation of duties. A Defence Fraud Analysis Unit acts as the central focus for all fraud matters and MOD civilian and Service police forces investigate suspicions of criminality

Involving fraud.
The MOD will continue to:

Maintain data on all suspected cases and report this to the Treasury. Develop data mining and IT techniques to identify fraud risk patterns. Sustain a programme of risk awareness training for all staff. Seek to recover the maximum value of losses arising from fraud.

2.11 Some departments set out in their SDA how they are improving their management of assets over the next three years. For many departments the detail can be found in their Departmental Investment Strategy, these will be published later this autumn.

Consumer focus

2.12 This section looks at the ways in which the department will increase its understanding of consumer views, and the accessibility of its services to them.

2.13 For services to become more responsive to consumers the government must assess what the views of consumers are, through well designed consumer tests and how best to meet consumer needs emerging from this consultation, in particular changes required on consumer access to services outside normal working hours. In the SDA departments set out their strategies for consulting with consumers and for improving access to services. In some cases the department identifies a senior civil servant who will take responsibility for the design and implementation of this programme - a "consumer champion". Consumer tests and consultation exercises can be used to look at the impact of policies on different groups for example women, ethnic minorities and people with disabilities. Feedback from these initiatives can provide information on what improvements can be made to ensure the fair and inclusive delivery of services.

Box 2.8
Meeting consumer needs
Example: Consumer focus -
Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food SDA

We will:

maintain customer satisfaction during the transition period to the formation of the new paying agency (Common Agricultural Policy Payments Agency) with the ease of submitting CAP scheme claims, as measured in Customer Satisfaction Surveys;
review all MAFF charter documents, in consultation with customers, by July 2001; and
implement by March 2002 new channels of communication with consumers.

Progress will be monitored by our Consumer Champion.

2.14 The provision of first-class public services is recognised in the public sector through awards for excellence such as Charter Mark - awarded for excellence in public service delivery - and the achievement of Beacon status by high performing local and central government services. Their good practice is spread more widely through, for example, a programme of site visits, on-line best practice databases (such as the Cabinet Office best practice site) and the Public Sector Benchmarking Service. In the SDA, departments set out their achievements in this area and their plans for improvement.

2.15 The Government places great importance on responding promptly to correspondence it receives from the public and from Members of Parliament on behalf of their constituents. Departments set targets for handling correspondence promptly while ensuring the quality of response remains high.

Managing people

2.16 Good public services depend on a skilled and motivated workforce. The Government depends on the commitment and abilities of staff throughout the public sector to deliver the targets which it has set itself. This section sets out how the department will take advantage of the impetus of the Modernising Government and Civil Service Reform agendas to motivate and modernise its workforce and those of its agencies.

2.17 Departments have prepared civil service reform plans which set out their programme for achieving better performance by improving the way they manage people. The SDA draws out the key elements of the plan and shows how success will be measured. In particular there are plans for:

establishing new pay and appraisal systems;
achieving and maintaining Investors in People status;
improving diversity by raising the proportion of women, those from minority ethnic groups and people with disabilities in the Senior Civil Service and achieving a representative workforce at every level of the organisation; and
improving interchange of people between departments and the private sector and between different parts of the public sector.

Box 2.9
Improving diversity in the civil service
Example: Civil Service Reform - Department for Education and Employment SDA
We are:-

introducing a new development programme for ethnic minority staff with senior management potential, to bridge the gap between the current 'positive action' provision - Equal Chance - and 'Prospects', the Department's Fast Track Development Programme; and
markedly increasing external recruitment efforts for individual senior posts and for more general recruitment. Targeting underrepresented groups in recruitment exercises with demonstrable impact on the proportions of women and ethnic minorities at Senior Civil Service (SCS) level, for which targets of 35% and 3% respectively have been set, ethnic minority staff at HEO level and people with disabilities at all levels. By 2004 the Department aims to have 5% of staff at Team Leader level (Grades 6 and 7) from ethnic minority backgrounds.

2.18 Departments include plans for improving management of staff in the agencies and services for which they are responsible, as part of wider public sector reform.

2.19 Improving the health of staff and reducing sickness absence and ill health retirement are important issues for the Government, public sector staff and the taxpayer. Each department has set a stretching but realistic target for reducing the level of sickness absence amongst its staff. These individual targets add up to a significant overall level of improvement. The average level of sickness absence in 1998 in the Civil Service was 10 days. This will be reduced to 8 days by 2001 and 7 days by 2003 through the universal adoption of best management practice.

2.20 Ill health retirement costs the taxpayer £1 billion a year. The review of ill health retirement in the public sector - published in July - set out a wide range of recommendations for reducing its incidence. SDAs contain targets which challenge public sector employers to reduce ill health retirement by 2005 to a level consistent with, or better than, that of the best in their group.

Electronic Government

2.21 The Government is committed to ensuring all services are capable of being carried out on-line by 2005. Departments are drawing up e-business strategies to deliver this commitment and this section of the SDA sets out the main elements of these strategies including the dates when key services will become available on-line and targets for take-up of these services.

Box 2.10
Making services available on-line
Example: Electronic Government - Department of Social Security SDA

We will:-

make claim forms for the Minimum Income Guarantee available to pensioners, visiting staff and third parties on the Internet by summer 2001;
make a Retirement Pension claim form available on the Internet by September 2001;
make an electronic claim facility for Child Support maintenance available on the Internet by 2004;
make an electronic claims facility for Income Support, Jobseekers Allowance and Incapacity Benefit available on the Internet by 2004;
increase the proportion of Government Procurement Card and Electronic orders for low value transactions by 25% by end 2001 and 100% by 2004; and
make e-commerce available to an increasing proportion of DSS supply staff and suppliers and achieve full coverage by 2002.

Policy and strategy

2.22 Better policy-making, research and analysis are strong themes in the Modernising Government White Paper and in the Performance and Innovation Unit report 'Adding it Up' on analysis and modelling in central government. In this section of the SDA departments set out how they are putting this into practice. In particular departments are assessing the evidence base underpinning delivery of specific PSA objectives to guide research strategy and so improve policy design.

Box 2.11
Improving policy-making
Example: Policy and Strategy -
Her Majesty's Customs and Excise SDA

We are committed to develop policy and legislation in ways that further and support the Government's economic, social and environmental policy objectives, and to ensure that legislation is applied as Parliament intended.

We will improve policy-making by:

conducting a Better Quality Service review of policy-making for completion by 2001-02;
producing an annual departmental analysis and research strategy in accordance with the Performance and Innovation Unit "Adding it Up" report, focusing initially on PSA objective I "to collect the right revenue at the right time from indirect taxes" and in addition to this the cross-cutting target "to improve value for money by achieving average annual productivity gains of at least 2.5% per year until 31 March 2004, without detriment to accuracy or customer satisfaction;"
consulting about policy changes in accordance with the joint Inland Revenue/ Customs and Excise/ Treasury Code of Conduct on Consultation; and
conducting regulatory and other impact assessments for all policy changes.

2.23 In this section departments also set out the ways in which they are mainstreaming race, gender and disability issues into all aspects of their policy formulation and business planning, that is the way they are integrating equal opportunities principles, strategies and practices into all levels and all stages of the policy-making process.

Internal links

Service Delivery Agreements: Index