the move to delivery

Where we are going

Our vision is of excellence in public services, with services designed around the needs of users, delivered to uniformly high standards across the country, where staff work flexibly and are rewarded well. 

Where we are now

Following the election in 2001, the Prime Minster said , 

"We have been given a clear instruction to deliver by the electorate." 

Thus delivery of better, modern public services is the Government’s key priority for its second term. This is not easy; one commentator has said, "There is no drama in delivery …only a long, grinding haul punctuated by public frustration with the pace of change." Failure will not be tolerated, nor will mere mediocrity.

The focus on delivery

In order to focus on the most challenging areas of service delivery: health, education, crime & asylum and transport, the Prime Minster set up the Delivery Unit in June 2001 under the leadership of Professor Michael Barber to bring about real and perceptible improvements in these priority areas. Working in partnership with departments and the Treasury, the Delivery Unit is focusing relentlessly on problems and blockages to delivery and developing solutions. 

Public sector reform and its underlying principles

But delivery cannot happen without reform of the means of delivery too. Thus the Office of Public Service Reform under the leadership of Dr Wendy Thomson is concentrating on ensuring that the wider public sector has the capacity, the structures, skills and the right incentives to be able to produce better services.

The government’s reform programme is underpinned by the PM’s four principles of public sector reform. These are:

Where we have been

The Government’s theme for its first term was defined by the White Paper, Modernising Government, which had 5 main themes:

Since 1998, the Modernising Government Reform Programme created the conditions for progress across all government and brought about a paradigm shift in the way we view government. It enhanced understanding of the need for reform and built capacity in departments. Through Modernising Government, we now have greater focus on and responsiveness to consumers, better access to services, more involvement of the front-line, joining-up across departmental boundaries, and sharing of best practice. 

This work now needs to be carried forward across all the public services, not just central government.

The purpose is to ensure that the public gets better services, better results, from policies that are inclusive and evidence-based. One of the particular aims of Modernising Government is to ensure cross-governmental ("joined-up") solutions to problems – that tackle causes not symptoms. 

Other aspects of the reform programme are still moving forward in partnership with the new units:

Civil Service Corporate Management and Reform: concentrating on Civil Service Reform. 

Regulatory Impact Unit: cutting red tape on the front line to increase efficiency.

Office of the e-Envoy: ensuring that government makes the most of electronic service delivery.