House of Commons - Public Accounts

Select Committee on Public Accounts Seventh Report

1 Managing the process for producing accurate leaflets

1.The Department for Work and Pensions provides services to nearly 30 million customers. In making its customers aware of their entitlements and responsibilities, it must provide accurate and timely information.[2] Despite increased use of new technology, including contact centres and the internet, the Department relies heavily on written communication, in particular leaflets. Customers must be able to rely on this material to make informed choices about their lives. Conveying often complex and changing information is a constant challenge for the Department.[3] The laws and regulations governing work programmes and benefits change frequently, so that information must be updated regularly.

2. In April 2005, the Department had 245 separate leaflets on services and entitlements in use. At our hearing it advised us that the figure was then 178 and said it was committed to a reduction of 100.[4] The Department said it was considering the need for each and every leaflet and in the future would produce more material about particular circumstances (for example, "Are you looking for work?" or "Have you had an accident?") rather than specific benefits, which would further help to reduce the number.[5]

3. Putting incomplete or inaccurate information in the public domain is a significant risk for the Department and its customers, and this risk is now recognised in the risk management arrangements of the Department and its agencies. Customer errors—mistakes made with no fraudulent intent—cost the Department around £800 million a year, about one third of the estimated £2.5 billion lost in fraud and error annually. One way to try and reduce this loss is to help customers understand their rights and responsibilities.[6] The greater the clarity of its communication, the less likely it is that customers will unwittingly make mistakes in applying for benefits.[7]

4. The Committee previously reported in 2000 and 2003 on the accuracy of the Department's leaflets in relation to the Inherited State Earnings-Related Pension Scheme (SERPS) problem, when the Department's failure to update a pensions leaflet lost the Government an estimated £8 billion in future savings. The Department believes the checks it has in place following the Committee's previous report should minimise the risk of a reoccurrence.[8] The National Audit Office found, however, that the intended twice-yearly checks for accuracy were not always happening: there was no central monitoring of leaflet reviews, so that the Department could not easily identify which ones had not been checked; and that the current process relied on individual leaflet managers being able to identify the right member of staff to check information. Reviews can take between 12-16 weeks to complete. Thus, where they are undertaken twice a year, leaflets may be under review for more than six months a year.[9]

5. Responsibility for assuring the information in leaflets has been fragmented, increasing the likelihood of inaccurate information slipping through the review process.[10] The Department is now moving away from monitoring the accuracy of individual leaflets to managing individual pieces of information such as benefit rates.[11]Specific policy officials are thus responsible for ensuring that the information relating to their area of policy is correct everywhere that it appears. Using a computerised "content management" system, the Department can locate and update it where necessary, without the need for manual checks of each leaflet.[12] This system is already in place in The Pension Service and the Department expects to extend it across the whole organisation by the end of the year.[13]

6. Responsibility for producing, managing and distributing leaflets has, until recently, been very dispersed throughout the Department, with no ownership over the entire life-cycle for leaflets and no clear chain of command. This has made something that should be relatively simple into something very complicated.[14]Although a single communications network will not be in place until 2008, the Director of Communications now sits on the Departmental board[15] and heads of individual Agency communication teams work directly to him.

7. In response to the Comptroller and Auditor General's Report, the Department has appointed a Head of Customer Information Products to oversee the production, quality and standards of the Department's leaflets. In the past, policy teams have decided whether a new leaflet is required, what it should say and how it should be presented. Under the new arrangements, policy officials will draft the leaflet content, but it will be for the Communications Directorate to make sure it is written, released and issued in a way which meets Departmental standards and is accessible, understandable and available to customers.[16]

8. The number of staff involved in communications activity across the Department has been reduced since the start of the year from over 1,000 to around 700, of whom 300 are in the central communications directorate.[17]This figure includes many people who maintain websites, work with the press, or are handling marketing campaigns and internal communications. The precise number of staff working on leaflets is difficult to assess, as it is often a very small part of an individual's job. However, the Department estimate that it is equivalent to approximately 31 full time staff.[18] In the past, many staff have not been experienced communication professionals. The Department has sought to increase the professionalism of those in communication roles, in particular, by recruiting to new government communications network standards. It has also increased the number of staff from outside the Department, and all staff within the Communications Directorate now have previous relevant experience.[19]

9. The Department's printing and distribution systems, inherited from both the former Department of Social Security and Employment Service, are complex. One consequence is that it has struggled to offer a flexible service to customers wanting different quantities of leaflets, at times setting minimum order quantities at 50.[20] Although the Department has existed since 2001, it will not replace inherited arrangements until later this year, when it expects to contract with a single provider, or network of providers, for all its print and distribution services. The new contract is expected to provide a range of benefits, such as better management information and stock control.[21] Progress has been made in rationalising printing, as well as closing surplus distribution centres, resulting in savings of about £0.5 million.[22]

10. At the time of the Comptroller and Auditor General's Report, the Department published around 24 million leaflets a year at a cost, including printing and distribution, of £10.3 million. The Department has now reduced the total number of leaflets produced. In 2005-06, it printed 13 million leaflets at a cost of £6.6 million.[23] The Department has reduced the average cost of leaflets in English from £385 per thousand to £250.[24] It costs more to produce leaflets in Welsh—£1,516 per thousand (previously £1,580)[25]—due to the lack of economies of scale, extra size of the products and the additional translation and set-up costs.[26] The Department will soon let a new contract to streamline its print and distribution arrangements, which it expects will reduce the total costs of producing leaflets further.