Press Release - Public Service Agreements: Managing Data
Quality - Compendium Report
23 March 2005
Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, reported
today on the progress that Departments have made in establishing
robust data systems to measure and report performance against
2003-06 Public Service Agreement targets. This interim report draws
on the NAO's examination of the data systems used by seven
Departments and the cross cutting Sure Start programme. It
summarises the findings from those validations and highlights
successful practices which have wider applicability and can
improve the management of data systems across government. It will
be followed-up by a second report, providing the NAO's overall
findings, once validations of the other Departments with 2003-06
PSA targets have been completed.
The NAO found that Departments had made variable progress in
meeting good practice principles for managing data systems. For
some targets, Departments had overcome substantial measurement
challenges to develop and operate good systems which addressed the
main risks to the reliability of reported data. But for other
targets Departments had not, at the time of validations, developed
operating systems that managed all the significant risks to data
reliability or explained the existence of those weaknesses to
readers of their public performance reports.
The report identifies a series of steps that Departments can
take to improve data systems. These include:
- Planning and co-ordinating the data needs for new systems.
Departments need to give more attention to data issues when PSA
targets are selected and they should involve staff from relevant
business areas, statisticians and analysts, and providers of
data;
- Raising the profile of data issues, for example, by allocating
clear responsibilities for data quality and ensuring management
challenge, and check the credibility of, outturn data;
- Developing a corporate view of risks to data reliability so
that they can be actively monitored and effectively managed;
- Ensuring systems are adequately defined and documented so that
they can be operated consistently over time;
- Making users of performance data aware of limitations in
underlying systems. This will help users make informed assessments
of Departments' results and thus build trust in public
reporting.
Sir John Bourn said today:
"Good quality data are crucial for the effective use of
performance measures and targets in improving service delivery and
accountability. Departments need to devote more attention to data
systems if they are to get full value from their performance
management systems in the round."
Notes for Editors:
- Public Service Agreements (PSAs) are at the centre of
Departments performance management systems. They are three year
agreements, negotiated every two years between each of the 19 main
Departments and HM Treasury during the Spending Review process.
Each PSA sets out the Department's high-level aim, priority
objectives and key performance targets. The Agreements set for
2003-06, as well as those Departments will be working towards in
2005-08, are available from HM Treasury's website at:
http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/Documents/Public_Spending_and_Services/publicservice_performance/pss_perf_table.cfm
- In his 2001 report on Government Audit and Accountability, Lord
Sharman recommended that there should be external validation of
Departmental information systems as a first step in a process
towards validation of key published data. Following his
recommendation, the Government invited the Comptroller &
Auditor General in March 2002 to review the reliability of data
systems underlying PSA targets at least once during the lifetime of
a target. The Government also established a Treasury-led working
group which included representatives from spending departments and
the National Audit Office. This group developed good practice
principles for managing and validating data systems.
- The NAO have taken a staged approach to this new area work. In
2003, we developed our methodology by working with five Departments
on the data systems they were using for a number of their 2001-04
targets. We provided advice on how the Departments could improve
their data systems to support better performance management. We
then refined our approach, and in 2004 completed validations of 64
systems operated by seven Departments and the cross-cutting Sure
Start programme for their 2003-06 PSA targets. This report
highlights issues arising from those eight validations which
covered the Department for Education and Skills, Sure Start,
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, HM Treasury,
Ministry of Defence, Cabinet Office, Inland Revenue and Department
for Culture, Media and Sport. A full list of these Departments'
2003-06 PSA targets are provided in Appendix 3 of the report.
- Press notices and reports are available from the date of
publication on the NAO website at www.nao.org.uk. Hard copies can
be obtained from The Stationery Office on 0845 702 3474.
- The Comptroller and Auditor General, Sir John Bourn, is the
head of the National Audit Office which employs some 800 staff. He
and the NAO are totally independent of Government. He certifies the
accounts of all Government departments and a wide range of other
public sector bodies; and he has statutory authority to report to
Parliament on the economy, efficiency and effectiveness with which
departments and other bodies have used their resources.
Press Notice 28/05
All enquiries to Bill Schaper, NAO Press Office:
Tel: 020 7798 7335
Mobile: 07748 120838