This Memorandum highlights progress and plans in a number of key areas of my department’s work that are likely to be of particular interest to the Committee.
2. Progress towards delivering high quality public services has been encouraging. Significant improvements have been achieved. Through devolution and delegation to the front line, local leaders and managers have been given the responsibility for delivery, and the opportunity to design and develop services around the needs of their customers. In doing this, they are also embedding the four principles of public service reform: national standards, devolution, flexibility and choice, with progress measured by survey evidence.
3. The Cabinet Office is now working on delivering the strategy for the next phase of public services reform by concentrating on making services fit to service the diverse and changing needs of citizens; ensuring a more personal approach to services that are grounded by the four principles of reform. In particular:
· Detailed work on the Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI) project will commence in early 2006 by identifying the key encounters people have with public services, seen from the perspective of the customer rather than the service provider. The emphasis will be on understanding the aspects of the experience which matter most to people - with special emphasis on minority groups, and why. The CSI will give Ministers a high level view of the customer experience of public services to support policy development. It will not be used for benchmarking purposes between organisations.
· The Cabinet Office is currently undertaking a review of Charter Mark, the Government’s national standard for customer service, under the guidance of Bernard Herdan, Chief Executive of the Passport Service. The purpose of the review is to critically evaluate the existing Charter Mark scheme with a view to making recommendations for a new customer service standard to be used as a tool for improving customer service, driving customer service reform and thereby raising levels of customer satisfaction with public services.
· Customer focused leadership is another area which the Cabinet Office is currently developing, especially focusing on leadership capacity for public services by shaping leadership development of diverse target groups.
Better Regulation
4. The programme of work the Government announced in the Budget and in the Better Regulation Action Plan represents one of the most radical reform packages anywhere in the world. The reforms have been welcomed by business groups, regulators, trade unions and the voluntary sector and are designed to reduce burdens without reducing the effectiveness of regulation, or the outcomes of that regulation.
5. Significant progress has already been made in implementing the Better Regulation Task Force Less is More and Hampton Report . recommendations. For example:
· The consultation document, A Bill for Better Regulation , was published on 20 July 2005. The Bill will make it easier to remove or amend outdated, unnecessary or over-complicated regulation. We have received responses to the consultation from the public, private and voluntary sectors, as well as individuals. A full summary will be published by mid January 2006.
· The project to measure and then reduce administrative burdens was launched on 15 September. The measurement exercise will be completed early in the New Year. Targets will then be set to reduce the administrative burdens, so businesses and the public can assess the progress the government is making on removing needless burdens.
· A new mechanism for business and other stakeholders to submit regulatory reform proposals to government was launched on 15 September . Departments and agencies will have 90 working days to respond to such proposals.
· Departments are working to develop rolling programmes of simplification, which will include proposals to reduce administrative burdens, and wider simplification measures to reform and deregulate existing regulation. Simplification plans will be subject to scrutiny by the Panel for Regulatory Accountability and the Better Regulation Commission and will all be published by the autumn of 2006.
· We are working with the European Commission, European Parliament and other Member States to drive forward the regulatory reform agenda in the EU during the UK Presidency. A major business-focused conference was held in September on ‘Competitiveness and Consultation’, as part of our longer-term strategy to strengthen the EU regulatory framework.
· Good progress has been made on implementing the strategy to rationalise, reduce and refocus the inspection of public services. Public consultations have already taken place on proposals for justice and community safety and for children and learners, which will result in the restructuring of seven inspectorates to two.
6. To deliver this agenda the Better Regulation Executive (BRE) has been created within the Cabinet Office. The BRE aims to deliver better regulation and reduce unnecessary bureaucracy in both the public and private sectors. William Sargent, former Chair of the Small Business Council has been appointed Executive Chair of the Better Regulation Executive.
7. As part of the structural changes that have taken place, the Better Regulation Task Force (BRTF) will be transformed into the Better Regulation Commission (BRC) and put on a permanent footing from January 2006. The BRC will be an independent advisory body sponsored by the Cabinet Office. Rick Haythornthwaite, former Chief Executive of Invensys plc, the global automation and controls group has been appointed Chair of the Better Regulation Commission.
E-Government
8. Better use of technology is at the heart of delivering personal, responsive public services that provide accessible choice for the customer. Effective use of technology is also vital to providing good value to the taxpayer. We can now see how technology is transforming people’s consumption of private sector services, whether in the foreground over the internet or in the background in supply chains. The same potential exists in public services and administration.
9. The Government has reorganised the administration of e-government policy. In summer 2004, in agreement with the outgoing e-Envoy, the government created a new Government Chief Information Officer (COI). This post was filled by Ian Watmore. He is supported by the e-Government Unit in the Cabinet Office. The Government CIO created a new Chief Information Officers Council as a peer-based, collaborative governance mechanism for the use of technology public services and policy. The CIO Council identified the need for a strategic approach to such use of technology and to inform the wider potential for the transformation of public service delivery. The strategy will be published shortly and the Government will welcome the Committee’s views on it at that time.
John Hutton
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office
31 October 2005
