“ ...This is a time to push forward, faster and on all fronts: open up the system, break down its monoliths, put the parent and pupil and patient and law-abiding citizen at the centre of it. We have made great progress. Let us learn the lessons of it not so as to rest on present achievements but to take them to a new and higher level in the future...”
The Prime Minister’s speech to National Policy Forum 9 July 2005
The agreement sets out an ambitious programme of action that will be the foundation for public services that are more personalised to the needs of citizens and businesses. It places this challenge at the centre of government plans for public service delivery.
Sir David Varney, the PM’s adviser on public sector transformation, said: ‘I am delighted that service transformation is such an integral part of the Comprehensive Spending Review and will run across and underpin the whole of the PSA framework. Service Transformation has an important part to play in the way government delivers all of its services, particularly those reflected in the 30 PSAs that are being announced today.’
Developments will include:
Already the DVLA and DWP are working to merge the application processes for driving licences and NI numbers; DWP, HMRC and some local councils are developing a single transaction approach for Jobcentre Plus, Housing Benefit and Tax Credit; and HMRC and Defra are working on an International Trade Single Window that will let traders or their agents submit all regulatory information in a single message that can then be shared by the relevant government departments.
Ed Miliband, the Minister for the Cabinet Office, and Andy Burnham, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, will hold departments to account for delivery of these commitments.
The newly–created Local Government Delivery Council will co-ordinate local authorities and will be leading on the transformation of services delivered face to face.