MEASURES OF SUCCESS
68. The questions which the evaluation process
will address, and by implication the success criteria, are currently
ill-defined. Officials told us that there would be no new targets
set for the pilots; instead, staff would operate within the Agencies'
existing targets, although there was a commitment that adviser
meetings would take place within three days of the start-up meeting.[130]
Existing targets of the Benefits Agency and Employment Service
focus on service delivery issues and job placements. One question
the evaluation process will examine is the extent to which ONE
puts more benefit recipients in touch with the labour market through
the intervention of their personal adviser. If ONE is to be
a valuable initiative for all of the targeted client groups, it
will be important to develop criteria for measuring the progress
an individual makes in getting in touch with the labour market
which are more relevant than simple job placements. Ministers
confirmed that the intention was to develop methods of assessment
which would measure whether people have become more employable
or moved closer to the labour market.[131]
As we have already noted, the Government is currently developing
a diagnostic tool which will measure people's distance from the
labour market and evaluate the obstacles which they face to finding
work (paragraph 52). Such a tool could, eventually, be used to
track clients' progress towards independence. However, it may
be some time before it is available for use in ONE and in the
meantime, we recommend that the Government should publish the
clear measures which it intends to use in assessing the reduction
in people's detachment from the labour market.
69. The ONE pilots are also intended to assess whether
the service achieves an increase in the sustainable level of employment
by getting more benefit recipients into work. A key question is
how sustainable employment will be measured. Ministers have said
that labour market outcomes will be measured at frequent intervals
after a client enters ONE and that, in the longer term, the Evaluation
Database will enable tracking of people who have moved into employment
and who then return to benefit.[132]
Such long-term tracking will be important, for example, in evaluating
job sustainability for disabled people.
70. ONE aims to give claimants a more effective,
efficient service which is tailored to their personal needs. Many
of the existing targets for measuring service delivery will enable
this aim to be evaluated. However, we are not satisfied that existing
measures are sufficient to assess the quality of information and
advice which claimants receive from ONE advisers. Ministers have
advised that information on the quality of benefit advice will
be gathered by monitoring the proportion of claims that are disallowed;
by exploring the confidence of ONE advisers in giving advice;
and by asking claimants whether they thought staff could answer
their questions and whether they were confident in the information
and advice received.[133]
None of these methods of evaluation will test whether, objectively,
the claimant was given accurate and appropriate advice and information
relevant to their situation. We recommend that as part of the
evaluation process independent benefit checks should be carried
out on a selection of ONE participants to identify the quality
of the benefits information and advice which they have been given
and to identify the effect of ONE on the take-up of benefits.
71. ONE is also aimed at changing the culture of
the benefits system and the general public "towards independence
and work rather than payments and financial dependence".[134]
The measures for evaluating whether a change of culture has been
achieved are far from clear. Nevertheless, given the proportion
of claimants participating in ONE who will not be available to
look for work for various reasons, the development of criteria
for judging whether a person has moved towards greater independence
is important. We recommend that the Government publish the
measures by which it intends to evaluate the success of ONE advisers
in assisting people who are not able to work towards greater independence.
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