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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:

  1. 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
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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
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