Introduction

1. The six service standards for central government departments and agencies (not the wider public sector) came into effect on 1 April 1997. This is the second report on performance against the standards, the first being presented to the House in September 1998. Publication of this information shows the Government’s continuing commitment to openness and to transparent reporting on performance.

2. Following a review earlier in the year, the standards have been revised for the current financial year (1999/2000). The revised standards (set out at Annex A) were announced in the Modernising Government White Paper. It will be for the devolved administrations to decide whether they adopt them in this form.

Standard 1: Answer letters from the public quickly and clearly. Each department and agency will set a target for answering letters and publish its performance against this target.

3. Many departments have improved their performance over the past year, but, unfortunately, others have fallen away. The overall picture is mixed and there is no clear trend in performance compared to last year. There are many reasons for this, not least that the volume and complexity of correspondence across departments vary so considerably. But all departments are committed to monitoring their performance closely and continuously striving for improvement.

4. All departments and agencies set targets for correspondence handling and their performance is published, for example in annual reports. The table below sets out the targets and performance of the main departments. The figures are not directly comparable because targets vary, and, as mentioned above, the volume and nature of correspondence varies between departments. More detailed information is available by contacting the individual departments and agencies direct.

Northern Ireland Departments and the Northern Ireland Office

(1) This figure represents complaints only.

(2) The Employment Service measures performance by asking an independent research company to sample 4,000 letters. The Chief Executive’s Office received 657 letters and replied to 96% within a 15-day target (against a target of 95%).

(3) Includes NIO Core, Forensic Science Agency, and Compensation Agency. Performance is calculated by a mixture of 100% monitoring and sampling.

(4) Performance measured in two sampling periods.

(5) Performance measured by sampling.

(6) These figures represent correspondence received in the county courts only and exclude correspondence received at the Crown Court, High Court, Tribunals and Probate Offices.

(8) Sample of 2,400 used to measure performance.

(9) Chief Executive correspondence: 808 letters replied to, 97.7% within 20-days target. Private Office, PCA and Official Correspondence: 2296 items replied to, 97.9% in 10-day target. These figures based on 100% monitoring. General correspondence monitored by monthly sample.

(10) Composite figures for all regional offices.

(11) Total correspondence received is the number of items of post received by the Department’s network of offices and includes internal mail. Performance is measured by monthly sampling and holding replies are not counted as having met the standard.

(12) HM Treasury introduced a system to monitor correspondence in April this year.

(13) The Benefits Agency replies to 82.5% of general correspondence in 10 days, 88.3% of letters advising them of change of circumstances within 6 days and 81% of complaints within 7 days. These figures exclude parliamentary correspondence.

(14) This figure is based on returns monitored on new tracking systems for all correspondence and is not comparable with previous annual returns that were based on sampling.

(15) This represents the volume of correspondence received by four of the DTI’s agencies (Companies House, Insolvency Service, Patent Office and Radiocommunications Agency)

(16) This represents all correspondence received centrally excluding campaign mail.

(17) This represents correspondence addressed to Ministers by members of the pubic about policy matters.

(18) Correspondence addressed to DCMS Ministers

Standard 2: See people within 10 minutes of their appointment time.

5. Many Departments have little face-to-face contact with the public or see the vast majority of visitors without an appointment. It is not therefore practical for every office to monitor against this standard. The responses below are a selection of results from those departments and agencies asked to report on their performance.

Standard 3: Provide clear and straightforward information about services and at least one number for telephone enquiries to help you or to put you in touch with someone who can.

6. All departments and agencies have at least one helpline or departmental enquiry line. Most have charters or publications that set out their standards of service; these are increasingly available on the Internet. Below are some examples of how departments and agencies are providing information to their users.

7. The main telephone enquiry points are listed at Annex B.

Standard 4: Consult users regularly about the service provided, and report on the results.

8. Departments and agencies regularly consult their users on matters that affect service delivery. Some examples of the methods used and the changes made as a result are set out below.

Standard 5: Have at least one complaints procedure for the services it provides, and send information about the procedures on request.

9. All departments now have complaints handling systems in place and most departments and agencies have leaflets to explain them. Departments and agencies with web sites have included details about how to complain. Below are a few examples.

Standard 6: Do everything that is reasonably possible to make its services available to everyone, including people with disabilities.

10. All departments and agencies are committed to making their services available to everyone. Below are just a few examples from the many initiatives under way.

Annex A

Revised Service Standards For Central Government

Every central government Department and agency will aim to:

*These commitments will take effect on 1 October 1999.

Annex B

Northern Ireland

*Note - most departmental websites can be accessed via www.open.gov.uk