The Six Standards for Central Government

Performance of the main central government departments and agencies over the period 1 April 1999 to 31 March 2000

Contents

Introduction

The six service standards for UK central government departments and agencies came into effect on 1 April 1997. Revised standards were announced in the Modernising Government White Paper published in March 1999 with the main changes taking effect on 1 October 1999. This report covers performance against the standards by the main UK central government departments and agencies and the Northern Ireland Civil Service over the period 1 April 1999 to 31 March 2000. It is the first annual report on performance against the revised standards and reflects the Government’s commitment to openness and improving public service delivery.

Standard 1:

answer your letters quickly and clearly. Each department and agency will set a target for answering correspondence (including letters, faxes and e-mails) and will publish its performance against this target.

This year’s report shows a significant and widespread improvement in the handling of correspondence from the public by departments and agencies. This reflects the sustained effort that has been put in, and the priority Ministers attach to providing first-class, responsive, public services. Actual performance varies widely, but the overall trend is clear with significant improvements in many cases. But there is no room for complacency, and Ministers are determined that performance should continue to improve through the introduction of new technology and the overhaul of outdated procedures. The latter will be particularly important to deal with the growing number of enquiries received by e-mail. Research through the People’s Panel shows that users expect a quicker reply to e-mails than to traditional written correspondence. Guidance issued last year and published on the Cabinet Office website makes clear that where it will not be possible to answer an e-mail within a few days, an acknowledgement should be sent telling the sender that they will receive a full reply within the department’s correspondence standard.

The table below sets out the target and performance of the main departments and agencies. The figures are not directly comparable because targets vary and the nature and volume of correspondence varies widely between departments. More detailed information is available by contacting individual departments and agencies direct.

1. Performance has been rounded up or down to the nearest whole figure
2. MAFF’s Regional Service Centres have a 10 working day target.
3. Performance in responding to complaints only.
4. Total volume covers public correspondence sent to Ministers or to the Department as a whole. It does not include correspondence sent direct to individual branches or units.
5. Performance is measured by an independent research company sending a "mystery letter" each quarter to each job centre (total of 4000 letters a year). The company assesses the letters for quality as well as speed of reply.
6. Volume of Ministerial correspondence received by the Department and its agencies.
7. The Inland Revenue merged with the Contributions Agency (CA) in April 1999. Former CA staff are currently working a target of responding to 95% of customer enquiries (not just correspondence) within 20 working days. During the period of this report, they received some 53,000 enquiries and responded to 99% within target. All Inland Revenue staff are working towards a 15 day correspondence target for 2000-01.
8. Inland Revenue offices received some 74,000,000 items of correspondence during the reporting period however this figure includes all internal post. There are no facilities for the collation of separate figures for external correspondence.
9. Correspondence handled by the Public Enquiry Point
10. Target for Chief Executive’s correspondence is 20 working days. During the reporting year, 762 items were received with 99% answered within target.

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Northern Ireland Departments and the NIO 

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Standard 2: 

see you within 10 minutes of any appointments you have made at its office; it will set a target for seeing callers without appointments, and publish performance against this target.

Most central government departments have little face-to-face contact with the public. It is therefore not practical for every office to monitor against this standard. The table below summarises the performance of the main departments and agencies delivering a service direct to the public. Overall, the results show that the vast majority of visitors with an appointment are seen on time, and that most visitors without an appointment are seen within the designated target. Research through the People’s Panel suggests that 84% of people are prepared to wait up to 10 minutes to be seen, with 65% prepared to wait up to 15 minutes. Where targets exceed this, this is often, as in the case of the UK Passport Agency, because of the complex and/or time-consuming nature of the process involved. In such cases, most enquiries are handled in other ways by, for example, post or telephone. More detailed information is available from the departments and agencies concerned.

1. Target currently under development. Will be in place by April 2002
2. Currently constructing a target for 2000-2001.
3. Vast majority of visitors seen without prior arrangements and therefore one target of 15minutes applies to all visitors whether or not they have an appointment.
4. No caller facilities in main centres. CSA/BA field staff arrange appointments for callers to field offices.
5. For customers who call at BA offices without a pre-arranged appointment the target is 10 minutes, unless calling at a busy time whereby the target sits at 30 minutes (busy times will vary from office to office). The results here show that 71% of customers were seen within 10 minutes and 93% within 30 minutes, according to the different time of visits.
6. There are no facilities for visitors without an appointment.

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Northern Ireland Departments