Modernising Government

Teletrain 2000

29 November 2000

• through the use of mystery callers;
• clamping down on ‘bouncing’ calls between departments;
• setting consistent performance targets; and
• researching to see where there is demand for extended opening hours.

1. They also set out how we can tackle exclusion by:

• recruiting staff speaking the most common language in the locality (like the Brent Council Gujarati line); and
• increasing the use of both TypeTalk and textphone technology so the hard of hearing can access services.

1. And they set out ways of improving working conditions for staff –

• using IT to provide better information for staff to ensure they can provide a first-class service;
• working in partnership with staff to recognise and develop skills and agree a work culture
• having an inclusive relationship between the Call Centre, its staff and their representatives.

1. Of course, call centres are not the answer to everything. They are a very useful tool for government –they offer massive potential and are revolutionising the way in which we deliver services.
2. But we need to make sure that they are supporting the right services. Call centres can help to join up the front office of government – its interface with the public – only if we can join up government on the inside.
3. Determined to invest in public sector staff and services we launched the Modernising Government white paper in 1999.
4. Modern government is a programme of reform hung on five simple hooks:

• Professional policy making
• Responsive public services
• Quality public services
• Utilising new technology
• Valuing public service

1. Take Professional policy making.
2. Government policy must be about more than responding to the latest crisis / tabloid campaign or opinion poll.
3. Policy should be developed in consultation with those it will affect - but equally, policy goals must be designed to tackle causes not just symptoms.
4. This means making difficult choices, sometimes sacrificing popularity in order to ensure economic stability or going against public opinion to achieve social justice.
5. A good illustration of professional policy making is the Rough Sleepers Unit. Set up to deliver a reduction in the number of rough sleepers to as near to zero - and by at least two-thirds by 2002.
6. A target we are delivering by:

• helping those on our streets to come inside - by tailoring services to meet their needs
• rebuilding the lives of those who have been on the streets.
• preventing tomorrow’s potential rough sleepers. By improving support for vulnerable groups including care-leavers, ex-offenders, drug and alcohol abusers, those with mental health problems and the armed forces.

1. In August the latest street count figures were published showing a reduction of one-third in the number of rough sleepers since June 1998.
2. Modern Government means Responsive Public Services –
3. It means opening hours to accommodate an entire community. Not necessarily 24/7 – but where there is an obvious demand for flexible service delivery, community need for extended opening hours, we will try to accommodate it.
4. We have NHS Direct, the 24-hour nurse-staffed help-line: Telephone and Internet accessible; Bringing medical advice, referral and diagnosis into your kitchen, your offices.
5. We have UK on-line and One-Stop shops. Call centres and one-stop shops are excellent means of delivering joined-up government.
6. Customer focused and well-resourced call centres can deliver a level of service and range of information beyond the capacity of public services working in isolation.
7. The advent of new technology - Digital TV; internet-equipped phones; the general explosion in communications – means that news travels faster than ever.
8. This raises customer expectations. And as expectations are raised so must our service levels be raised, to ensure we satisfy the demands of the increasingly sophisticated public services consumers.
9. Call centres, as with the rest of central and local government, must be underpinned by the best technology if they are to deliver the best services. I will come on to this - but Technology alone is not enough.
10. We have all been left holding in a call centre queue, only to get put back on hold a second after making human contact. Re-telling our story to someone else ten minutes later who is still unable to help us does nothing to improve customer satisfaction.
11. To succeed we must balance technology with investment in staff and decent training. Referrals must be explained so the customer knows they are being transferred to get the right answer, not just because the person that they were talking to needs to has a call quota to hit.

 

12. Call-centres are a great method of delivering public services if the other strands of the modernisation programme are in place to ensure that they are responsive and flexible.
13. This is where the guidelines will make a big difference.
14. Information technology can cause as well as solve problems. We all know about the IT problems that led to the passport fiasco in Summer 99.
15. Less of us will know how IT was harnessed to provide part of the solution to these problems:
16. The service was evaluated. The results:

• A 24-hour call centre.
• Extended opening hours,
• Fax back facilities
• An upgraded website with 4-hour e-mail response time.

1. Improvements for the public, improvements for passport office staff.
2. Responsive public service incorporates a vision of how services can be improved before the need for improvement becomes blatantly obvious.
3. Take ONE:

• Four pilot projects set up across the UK.

• One task - helping job seekers, carers, lone parents, disabled people and those who have suffered long term illness to become more independent.

• One face - giving each client their own personal adviser, a single point of contact for work, benefit, help and support

• One team - bringing together the Benefits agency, Employment service, local authority, voluntary organisations and private sector employers

• And one person – treating each client as an individual with their own needs and something valuable to offer.

1. Responsiveness must be coupled with quality.
2. It’s about more than central government initiatives – it’s local action:

 

 

 

3. Take Heywood Community High School
4. Second time winner of the Chartermark. This comprehensive in Heywood, Rochdale – has set itself highest academic and social standards.
5. Measures introduced include:

• an open door policy for students and parents

• Headteachers surgery every Friday evening

• Crèche provision at parents evenings

• Signing at school assemblies and parents meetings for hearing impaired students and parents

1. The fourth strand of the modernisation programme, as I have said, is use of technology.
2. We must not become so enthusiastic that we forget that not everyone is able to use new technology. Some people cannot afford the equipment, or don’t have access to the technology. Some do not have the skills to use it.
3. We are addressing this with a £15m scheme, Computers Within Reach, which three aims:
4. To bridge the gap between those with computers and those without;
5. To boost employment and training opportunities in the poorest and most deprived communities; and
6. To put the UK at the forefront of the IT revolution – helping to meet the Prime Minister’s pledge that everyone has access to the Internet by 2005.
7. Computers Within Reach will provide up to 100,000 recycled computers to low income families. The first community to benefit will be Kensington in Liverpool, which has 14,000 residents, high levels of poverty and unemployment three times the national average.
8. Other measures to tackle the digital divide include:

• 1,000 learndirect centres by spring 2001 – 600 are open now;

• on-line basic skills training free of charge for the unemployed;

• tax free computer loans on offer by employers;

• in Brighton, a joint UK online/Big Issue centre will help homeless people to find a job by giving them access to computers and their own email addresses;

1. The Government’s ambition is clear. For the UK to be at the forefront of the new global knowledge economy.
2. We will make 100% of Government services accessible via the Internet by 2005. Supplementing not replacing traditional methods of service delivery.
3. IT can’t be left to the wizards of technology, because it is everyone that will be accessing government services via IT.
4. With investment and determination we are making IT accessible to all.
5. Information age government makes lives better.
6. And so to the final strand in our vision of modernity: Valuing public services.

 

7. It is easy to denigrate the public sector and public services – easy to criticise staff that work within the public sector. To fail to appreciate what amazing range, depth and variety public services provide society.
8. I am not saying that public services or public servants are all perfect.
9. I am saying that often they are undermined, undervalued and under-resourced.
10. Frequently it is easier to do things as they have always been done. Than it is to add vision, creative thinking, spirit, and admiration into the melting pot.
11. The government is reforming:
12. Involving and motivating our staff in decision-making
13. Tackling inequality in service provision and staff recruitment
14. That means investing in public services and public servants to create a future we can all believe in.
15. Within Central government it means modernising the civil service itself.
16. Managers and the trade unions have identified six key areas of action to implement change

• Stronger leadership
• Better business planning.
• Sharper performance management.
• Dramatic improvement on diversity.
• More open service to bring in and bring on talent.
• A better deal for staff.

1. We recognise that with reform comes a responsibility – to invest in our workforce, giving staff appropriate transferable IT skills, upskilling and re-deploying staff appropriately where reform changes the nature of work.
2. The challenge is clear. We know what we need to do and how we want to deliver it. We now need to measure the impact of those changes in human terms. What will each part of the modernisation programme mean for staff, and how do we upskill, redeploy and accommodate our workforce whilst simultaneously modernising our services.

 

3. Modernisation is not a 6-month, 12 month or 18 month project
4. This is a long-term rolling project
5. Putting 5 such broad-reaching principals into practice takes time, energy and commitment

• Professional policy making
• Responsive, quality public services
• Utilising new technology; and
• Valuing public service

1. Change driven by results and compassion.
2. An Olympian style mission with no finish line. But we have invested in the foundations, creating an environment where excellence, talent and diversity are nurtured.
3. There’s no gold medals for modernising government, clear targets and a strong will to succeed drives us.
4. We have a lot to be proud of. Like our Olympic athletes, we have made great strides, and modernisation is something Britain is getting better at.

 

5. We had outstanding athletes in the Olympics, but our success was a team achievement. Modernisation is an Olympian task, and we need to work as a team to achieve anything near a gold standard. Each and every one of us has a vital role to play, and together we will win the race to modernise government, and share in the rewards.