House of Commons - Culture, Media and Sport

Select Committee on Culture, Media and Sport Second Report

2 Annual Report 2002-03: overview

3. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport published its Departmental Annual Report (DAR) in May 2003, covering the previous financial year.[2] Much of the analysis of performance within the DAR is against targets contained in the 2001-04 Public Service Agreement (PSA) agreed with the Treasury in the Spending Review 2000.[3] The next PSA, covering 2003-06, was agreed as part of the 2003 Spending Review and the targets within this process were also set out in the DAR.[4]

4. According to the introduction to the annual report, the primary aim of DCMS is:

to enhance people's lives by supporting and promoting a wide range of activities' within areas which 'people care passionately about such as sport, art, music, theatre, historic buildings and good design, where they are going on holiday and what they watch on TV.'[5]

5. Sitting underneath this aim, since 2001-02, there are four strategic priorities (said to underpin the Public Service Agreement and form the basis of policy development).

Children and young people: enhancing access to a fuller cultural and sporting life for children and young people and giving them the opportunity to develop their talents to the full.

Community: opening up our institutions to the wider community, in order to promote lifelong learning and social cohesion.

Economy: maximising the contribution which the tourism, creative and leisure industries can make to the UK's economy.

Delivery: modernising the way we deliver our services, by ensuring our sponsored bodies are set and meet targets which put customers first.

6. DCMS works with around 66 Non-Departmental Public Bodies (NDPBs) and with the local authorities of England who provide many cultural and leisure services. Over 95% of the DCMS annual budget is allocated directly to NDPBs and, in 2002-03, and there is a separate volume of the Report which concentrates on the work and finances of the sponsored bodies.[6]

7. Underneath the four strategic priorities, the Department has set six objectives and associated performance targets intended to span the work of DCMS, and form tools with which to measure performance. The Treasury has provided guidelines on how to set appropriate measures of progress and a Treasury checklist of effective measures is appended to this Report. The DCMS targets are set out below:

Target One: To ensure all public libraries have internet access by the end of 2002.

Target Two: To introduce at least 12 Creative Partnerships by March 2004, targeted at deprived areas, ensuring that every school child in the Partnership has access to an innovative programme of cultural and creative opportunities.

Target Three: To raise significantly, year on year, the average time spent on sport and physical activity by those aged five to 16.

Target Four: To increase the numbers of children attending museums and galleries by a third by 2004.

Target Five: To increase by 500,000 by 2004 the numbers of people experiencing the arts.

Target Six: To conduct a value for money study of the organisations sponsored by DCMS by April 2002, significantly improving the average performance by 2004.

8. The Secretary of State told us that, in view of the breadth of DCMS responsibilities, PSA targets were needed that drove the key departmental priorities.

'if you take a department like mine which famously covers everything from the Tote to the Tate, what is it centrally about?[7] My department is about enriching people's lives and particularly enriching the lives of young people who may well be shut out from those opportunities by virtue of deprivation and other lack of opportunity. That sits right at the centre. I want PSA targets that are going to capture our performance against the things which are central to what my department does. We have four strategic priorities that focus on young people, on communities, on our support for the economy through productivity growth and tourism, creative industries and media and a fourth strategic priority which is focused on improving the delivery, our performance as a department and in turn the performance of our non-departmental public bodies. What the PSA targets do is to try to give turbo charge and focus to those strategic priorities.'[8]

9. The inter-relationship of aim, priorities and targets are therefore important and can be set out as follows:

Aim Priorities Targets

Enhancement of life by support and promotion of activities in the areas of: sport, art, music, theatre, historic buildings & good design, where people go on holiday and what they watch on TV

Enhancing access to a fuller cultural and sporting life for children and young people
Establishment of Creative Partnerships

Increase of time spent on sport by 4-16 year olds

Increase in numbers of children attending museums and galleries

Providing internet access through public libraries

Increase the number of people experiencing the arts

Opening up institutions to the wider community to promote lifelong learning and social cohesion

Maximising the contribution which tourism, creative and leisure industries make to the UK's economy

Conduct Value For Money studies of DCMS' NDPBs and significantly improve average performance
(given the responsibilities of the many DCMS NDPBs, this target also applies to priorities 1 and 2)

Modernising the delivery of services by ensuring sponsored bodies are set and meet targets which put consumers first