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Modernising Government: A new
consumer focus for public services
Guidance to Departments, Agencies and NDPBs
Contents
Introduction
The Government announced on 9 February a joint Cabinet
Office/HM Treasury initiative for a new consumer focus for public service (formerly know
as the consumer test). The idea was contained in the Modernising
Government White Paper and is a key new plank in making public services more
responsive to consumers.
The Government’s aim is to encourage services to be more responsive to their
users, with a focus on how consumer’s views are built into an organisation’s
planning process and how the quality of service delivery is improved as a result. The
consumer focus is not about carrying out a single test of user satisfaction, but about
cultural change. It means gathering information where it will be most useful and have most
effect.
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The key proposals for the consumer focus are:
We plan to use the People’s Panel to
carry out regular consumer surveys across a range of key public services (see Annex A). The first step will be to use the Panel to
set a baseline against which future surveys can be measured. This will cover a range of
issues including:
 | frequency of use;
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| satisfaction;
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| expectations;
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| communication; and
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| how well complaints are handled (where historical Cabinet Office data can be built on). |
There are many similarities between Best Value in local
government and the consumer focus in central government. Work is considerably advanced in
drawing up new Performance Indicators for local government under the Best Value regime.
These include a mix of service specific indicators and ‘general health’
indicators, including consumer satisfaction. To aid comparison of results, questions used
in the People’s Panel surveys will match as closely as possible those used to support
Best
Value PIs.
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Sector Specific Surveys and Targets
Rather than impose a ‘one-size-fits all’ requirement, individual key public
services dealing regularly with the public (both individual and business users) should
work up their own consumer satisfaction systems to reflect individual circumstances. Our
intention is to build on these systems and track performance over time. Initially it will
be difficult to make direct comparisons between services given the different systems and
methodologies in place. But we will be able to take into account the different elements
that consumers think are important and to measure trends (including comparison with the
results of the People’s Panel surveys). And over time we are aiming to increase
comparability by moving towards a common set of questions and methodologies and encourage
clusters of similar organisations to work together.
In implementing the consumer focus, key public services will need to:
Service Delivery Agreements
The 2000 Spending Review, and the new
generation of Public Service Agreements and Service Delivery Agreements that emerge from
it, will be used to set specific consumer satisfaction targets for departments and
agencies based on their own customer/service priorities wherever possible and sensible.
The SDA itself should demonstrate that steps are being taken to improve consumer
responsiveness, setting out a timetable for putting such a programme in place; or if it is
in place already, outline its main components. This may need only cover services to the
public. Some departments may have a number of different services and may need to cover
each separately.
The following points should be borne in mind:
| The information collected should help managers to identify areas of service where
consumers are dissatisfied and identify what sort of improvements are needed.
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| Consumer views can usefully be taken using a variety of research or consultation
methods. These include nationally representative surveys (face to face, telephone or
postal); qualitative research (focus groups and depth interviews); point of contact
feedback forms; consumer panels and mystery shopping. Many of these methods are simple and
effective.
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| Complaints are a major source of information about what consumers think of the service
they receive, where things are going wrong and the improvements they want. The information
you get from complaints should be part of your approach for identifying consumer
priorities and examining satisfaction.
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| Different methods of identifying consumer views will be appropriate in different
circumstances. Often a range of methods, both research-based and consultative, can build
up a stronger picture. For example, a national survey of consumer views is a good way of
establishing broad customer priorities and the areas where service is perceived to need
improvement. Qualitative research and local consultation can provide more detail on
precisely where the service is going wrong and can also help in shaping solutions.
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| Different groups may have different needs and experience of services. Where possible,
analysis should reflect this diversity; key variants will differ depending on the nature
of the service, but for services to the public should include age, gender, ethnicity,
disability and frequency of contact with the service. For business customers, it may be
sensible to look at size, geographical spread, etc. Targeted consultation or qualitative
research can be good ways of ensuring the particular needs of groups are not overlooked.
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| Departments and agencies should consider carrying out joint research where user groups
are similar. This could help reduce research costs (and avoids bothering the same people
twice!).
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| It might be an option to buy a suite of questions in an omnibus survey such as those run
by ONS and market research companies; this is a relatively cheap and quick option, but
clearly only works for groups who are widely represented in the national population. |
As far as possible, the programme should be crystallised into SDA targets. Precise
targets will depend on the nature of the business.
In describing existing programmes and setting targets, departments need to demonstrate
that they are regularly identifying customer priorities and criticisms of service,
consulting them and addressing criticisms. Models for targets might be:
| A date for establishing and/or a commitment to obtain regularly information on consumer
priorities for levels of service and identification of the key issues which come out of
the research. Some organisations already set targets for the level of consumer
satisfaction. Inland Revenue has an existing PSA target to improve its satisfaction points
by 5% in an established index of customer service performance. This may be sensible, where
the baseline is well established and movements in consumer opinion are not subject to
volatility. But this is not likely to be appropriate in many cases, especially where
rising standards of service may lead to rising expectations. Rather than focusing on
levels of satisfaction, it may often be better to identify through research the specific
areas which consumers wish to see improved and demonstrate that action is being taken in
response;
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| demonstration that customers are regularly consulted at every level on existing
services, or where changes are planned. This might be achieved, either by describing
current arrangements or by setting a target to introduce a programme for doing so;
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| identification of areas where services have already been improved and mechanisms or
programmes which have been put in place, for example the consumer champion, to improve
services in future. |
Where services are delivered through local authorities, departments may want to refer
to the arrangements under Best Value. National research on consumer views, for example, on
education, are likely to be of use.
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Consumer Champions
The key aim of the consumer focus is to use consumers’ views to improve the
quality of the service delivered. To ensure this is achieved, public services need to
builds consumers’ views into their planning and appoint
a consumer champion at board level so that those views are turned into positive
action. The consumer champion should have specific responsibility for the design and
implementation of this programme.
The consumer champion should be responsible for and have the necessary authority to:
| devise a strategy for ensuring that consumers’ views (both users and potential
users) are fed into the organisation’s business planning process;
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| be responsible for setting targets/indicators that measure the extent to which
consumers’ views/needs are responded to;
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| ensuring consumers are consulted about an organisation’s services, and that the
results are effectively acted upon within that organisation; and
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| reporting at least annually on how that organisation has responded to consumers’
views and needs. |
But the role of the consumer champion is more than acting as the voice of the service
user: he/she also needs to ensure that change has meaning, impact and is long-term. The
consumer champion needs to work across the department/agency/organisation, so that users
views are listened to, understood and acted upon. In order to meet the commitment in the
Modernising Government White Paper that public services are to be delivered to meet the
needs of the user and not the convenience of the provider, the role of the consumer
champion should be to ensure that all management decisions are taken with the consumers
views at the forefront.
The consumer champion should communicate findings from consumer research throughout the
organisation in a way that is easily understandable by staff at all levels: if the
findings are not easily understood, they will not be acted upon, or worse they will be
misinterpreted. It is important that all staff understand what they individually can do to
improve consumer service.
Service users need to be told what action took place following their investing time to
provide feedback to the organisation or take part in a consumer satisfaction survey. The
perception that no action took place is often seen as worse than if users’ views had
not been sought in the first place. Furthermore, research has shown that the better a
service is at keeping people informed, the higher its satisfaction rating.
The consumer champions need to be innovative in their approach to problem solving. This
is essential when interpreting consumer satisfaction data and developing creative
solutions as well as quick wins. The consumer champion also needs to be able to motivate
different parts of the organisation to deliver against these solutions.
The consumer champion needs to maximise the value of consumer satisfaction data. In
doing this, he/she should identify what is most important to users and ensure that
corrective action is developed that will actually deliver what the consumer needs.
Last, and by no means least, the consumer champion needs to be able to drive the
necessary changes through the organisation. He/she should generally be at Executive Board
level within an organisation. It may make sense in large organisations to appoint consumer
champions at other levels too.
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Timing and Reporting
An indicative outline timetable for the consumer focus is as follows:
Sources of Advice
Many departments and some agencies have professionals with expertise in survey and
opinion research, and they should be consulted in the first instance. There are also other
sources of advice inside and outside Government.
Where no in-house expertise exists, it may be necessary to get expert advice from
consultancies, universities, research institutes or individuals specialised in social
research or consider contracting out the research if necessary. But care needs to be taken
when consulting organisations which are, or represent, potential contenders for conducting
your research, and so have a vested interest.
Advice inside Government is available from:
| Social Survey Division of the Office for National
Statistics, which both conducts social surveys and provides advice and consultancy on
surveys carried out for Government departments, either on particular aspects such as
question wording or generally. Contact Joy Dobbs, Divisional Director, on 020 7533 5369
(GTN 3042 5369), or Jean Martin, Director of Survey Methodology, on 020 7533 5314 (GTN
3042 5314); and
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| the Central Office of Information’s Research
Division, part of the Marketing Communications group, which provides a specialist
procurement and management service for opinion, marketing and communication research.
Contact Debbie Whitehead, Director of research, by e-mail at dwhitehe@coi.gov.uk or on 020 7271 8425, fax 020
7401 2808. |
Advice outside Government is available from:
We have published a good practice guide ‘How
to consult your
users’. This gives tips about consultations, introduces some of the
commonly-used ways of consulting users, sets out some of the issues to think about when
considering each method, and summarises the pros and cons of different types of
consultation. Copies of the guide can be obtained free of charge from the Service First
publications line, tel: 0845 7 22 32 42
You might also find useful tips on our best practice database
(www.cabinet-office.gov.uk/servicefirst/index/guidhome.htm)
The Cabinet Office is also producing separate guidance to policy makers in UK
Government departments and agencies who are considering whether to commission research
seeking the views and opinions of members of the public.
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Modernising Public Services Group
Cabinet Office
11 February 2000
Annex A
Public services to be included in People's Panel research
| Benefits Agency
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| Employment Service
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| Child Support Agency
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| Passport Agency
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| GPs
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| NHS Hospitals
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| Ambulance service
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| Fire service
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| Police
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| Inland Revenue
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| The Courts
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| Local councils
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| Local sports/leisure facilities
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| Libraries
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| Parks and open spaces
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| Provision of recycling facilities
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| Refuse/waste collection service
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| Road maintenance and repairs
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| Pavement maintenance
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| Street lighting
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| Street cleaning
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| Local Nursery schools/classes
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| Local Primary schools
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| Local Secondary schools
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| Local Adult Education
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| Youth clubs and other facilities for young
people
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| Council housing service
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| Local Bus services
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| Train companies
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| Museums and art galleries
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