Press Release - Improving Service Delivery
28 March 2003
Executive Agencies can improve how they set targets and do more
to ensure that their initiatives are leading to better delivery of
services, Sir John Bourn, the Head of the National Audit Office
reported today. He presented to Parliament four reports which
assess how agencies are seeking to improve public services.
Executive Agencies need to have sufficiently exacting targets.
Most commonly, these have been set by reference to past
performance, but targets should also reflect changes in public
expectations, and opportunities for increased efficiency, such as
those offered by new technologies and innovative ways of working.
Targets should also reflect issues that are important for users,
and there needs to be a wider range of methods to gauge what users
really need and think.
The NAO found that almost three quarters of the targets we
reviewed in 2001-02 were achieved. But they need to give more
attention to the consistent measurement and reporting of
performance over time and publish reliable information on
performance achievement to ensure accountability for public
money.
Agencies use a range of initiatives to evaluate and improve
service delivery including seeking accreditation against external
quality standards. When assessing such initiatives, agencies should
explicitly take into account their likely impact on users and focus
on aspects that deliver most benefit to users.
While agencies generally have systems in place for identifying
and monitoring costs, these are not often linked to key outputs and
outcomes. The pursuit of improved service delivery must be balanced
by the need to provide value for money and agencies need to adopt
more sophisticated approaches to measuring costs and
productivity.
Three of the reports on service delivery examine individual
bodies: the Veterans Agency, the Forensic Science Service and the
Food Standards Agency – a rather different type of arm’s length
organisation being a Non Ministerial Department, created in 2000.
All have made progress in improving aspects of their
performance.
The Veterans Agency has reduced the average length of time it
takes to process claims and achieves high levels of customer
satisfaction.
The Agency needs to identify ways of reducing processing times
further for some types of claim and appeals where claimants may
wait long periods for a decision.
Most users of the Forensic Science Service rate its services
highly, but concerns remain about the time it takes to complete
forensic science casework. The average time to complete forensic
testing reduced from 45 days in 1991-92 to 26 days in 1999-00 but
increased again to 35 days in 2001-02, significantly above the
national target of 24 days. Performance also varies between the
Agency’s different laboratories.
Overall the Food Standards Agency has made progress towards
meeting its objective to improve public confidence in food safety
and standards arrangements. It can further improve by bringing
greater transparency to the way in which it reaches judgements
about where to concentrate its efforts and determine priorities;
having better information to enable matching of resources to its
workload; and adopting a more systematic approach to assessing its
impact on food safety and standards.
Sir John Bourn said today:
"These reports get to the heart of one of the
Government’s key objectives: improving the delivery of public
services. We have found many examples of good practice in the
organisations we have examined in detail. We have brought these
together into one report so that agencies can learn from the
success of others."
Notes for Editors
- The NAO’s general examination reviewed the performance of 30
Agencies in meeting their targets. This work was further refined by
more detailed analysis of eight Agencies to determine how the
achievement of targets is monitored and lessons learned. As part of
this general examination the NAO incorporated the good practice
points identified from in-depth examinations of three particular
bodies providing different types of services and the performance
they had achieved in aspects of their service delivery. The three
bodies we examined in detail were:
- 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 26/03
All enquiries to Mark Strathdene, NAO Press Office:
Tel: 020 7798 7183
Pager: 07699 788580