General views on the Charter programme Most respondents were
positive about the Charter programme and thought that it had
led to significant improvements in service delivery. The
Charter Mark award scheme was also considered to be a
valuable and important part of the programme.
'Overall we
support the Citizen's Charter programme. As we said in
our evidence to the Select Committee "the Citizen's
Charter is an important initiative in making public
services more responsive to consumers and should be
retained". It has reinforced the principle that consumers
should have a right to information and a right to
complain, and the Charter Mark scheme has motivated a
significant number of public servants to improve customer
care. ' (National Consumer Council)
'Charters have
undoubtedly increased the general public's awareness of
their rights and of the standards that public services
aim to achieve. ' (Central Scotland
Healthcare)
'The Citizen's
Charter programme has played an important part in the
development of greater user responsiveness in public
services, and could be an important element in the Better
Government programme in future. The programme has
received considerable acclaim internationally and similar
initiatives are being pursued in Canada, France and other
countries. Among Government agencies, the response to the
Charter initiative has been positive, with many public
authorities creating user charters of their own or
applying for Charter Mark. ...there is now a need to
reposition the initiative to ensure that it can play a
full part in the present Government's determination to
create excellence in public services, and to focus
attention on the effectiveness of public organisations in
achieving desired outcomes for both customers and
citizens. '(Office for Public Management)
Many people thought, however,
that there was room for improvement. In particular, they
wanted more effective consultation, standards that addressed
quality as well as quantity, more consistency between
charters, and greater co-operation between service
providers.
'Effective consultation with users is the single most
important issue which needs to be addressed if the
[Charter] is to improve public services. '
(National Consumer Council)
'The Charter approach is
a very top down approach to improving services. Involving
local providers and users in setting standards may help to
overcome this perceived problem. ' (Greater
Glasgow Local Health Council)
'We welcome the
commitment, given in paragraph 9 [of the consultation
paper], to look at how services can be provided in a way
that puts the individual first, not administrative
convenience. ' (Scottish Consumer
Council)
'The Charter has made a
difference, and many services have been improved. However,
there are huge weaknesses. The main problem is that the
process is essentially managerial and "topdown" rather than
"citizen' driven." (Prof Lewis, University of
Sheffield)
'We would support a
common format and framework for charters as we believe this
would avoid confusion and help consumers feel more confident
about the standards of service which they are entitled to
expect. ' (General Consumer Council for Northern
Ireland)
Our response to the
consultation exercise
Our detailed proposals
for the new Charter programme, which take account both of
responses to the consultation exercise, views obtained from
workshops between the Minister and frontline staff and the
useful report produced last year by the House of Commons
Public Service Committee, are set out in the paper 'Service
First - the new charter programme'. We concentrate
here on responding to specific points raised during the
consultation process.
|
Key features of the new Service First
programme
 | New principles
We have reviewed and updated the principles of
good public service underlying the programme.
They are designed to give a new signal. Four are
new: promote access and choice; treat all
fairly; work with other providers; and innovate
and improve.
|
| Responding to people
We want to encourage greater responsiveness in
the new programme. In this way we hope to find
out how services can be improved and to create
an effective partnership between the people
involved in providing and using different
services.
|
| The People's Panel is a new initiative to
find out people's views on all aspects of public
service delivery. It will consist of some 5,000
people selected at random from across the UK to
provide a representative sample of the
population as a whole. The Panel will be
consulted on a regular basis on a wide range of
issues.
|
| Quality: charters and continuous
improvement
In response to comments about lack of
consistency between charters drawn up by
different public services, we have produced 'How
to draw up a national charter' and 'How to draw
up a local charter'. These provide guidance on
all aspects of producing or reviewing a
charter.
|
| We are also reviewing the main national
charters. In particular, a new NHS Charter is
being developed and will be issued in draft
later this year. A new charter for people
needing long-term care will also be
produced.
|
| A common criticism of past charters has
been that they have no legal basis. We intend,
as part of the proposed Freedom of Information
Act, to establish a legal obligation for
services to publish information on the service
they provide, the standards of service users can
expect to receive, how they have performed, and
how to complain if something goes wrong.
|
| Quality: spreading best practice
In addition to the two new guides on national
and local charters, we are producing new and
enhanced best practice guides on consultation
techniques, effective written consultation
exercises and how to deal with complaints. These
provide practical advice on how organisations
and departments can apply the principles of the
programme in a way that works for them. We are
also looking at how we can use new technology to
disseminate best practice more effectively.
We recognise that finding practical solutions
to problems is often best achieved through
exchanging ideas with people who work in
different environments but share broadly similar
problems. We are therefore developing and
expanding the role of the Quality Networks, and
have set up a new Best Practice Quality
Forum.
|
| Working together
A key theme of the Better Government programme
is the promotion of co-ordinated services to the
public. We are running, in partnership with
others in the public, private and voluntary
sector, 28 pilot projects around the country to
identify new ways to provide better government
for older people, and give them more say.
|
| Effectiveness
We intend to build on the success of Charter
Mark by expanding and developing it so that it
can reach its full potential in recognising and
encouraging excellence in public services. To
achieve this we intend to improve links between
Charter Mark and other quality schemes,
introduce new updated criteria to reflect our
new priorities, introduce a new self-assessment
pack, and provide greater support to service
providers who are striving to improve their
service through the Charter Mark
scheme. |
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