House of Commons - Public Accounts - Fifty-Seventh Report

Select Committee on Public Accounts Fifty-Seventh Report

3 Performance issues

13. The Department did not produce a performance framework for 2007-08 for the Shared Service Centre until September 2007 and it now collects data on 14 of its 18 key performance indicators.[25] At the time of the Committee hearing, the Department had achieved only four of its 18 key performance indicators, and showed considerable variation in its performance against other indicators. For example, performance achieved against the measure for creating and maintaining customer details within one day was 81% in December 2007, but had fallen to just 1.8% in January 2008, against a target for both months of 95%.[26] The Department attributed this large drop in performance to the rushed implementation of the shared services system, the immaturity of the Shared Service Centre and periods of heavy pressure on its workload.[27]

14. The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency and the Driving Standards Agency have a target to pay 98% of undisputed invoices within 30 calendar days. Neither agency achieved that target in the first 13 months of the Shared Service Centre's operations,[28] although, in April 2008, the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency paid 96% of its invoices within target.[29] In both agencies, performance remains below the level achieved before they joined shared services.[30]

15. The Department's performance against some key indicators continues to be below that achieved by average private sector comparators. For example, invoice processing costs are nearly seven times the industry average, the cost per payslip processed is double that achieved by average industry comparators and the Shared Service Centre processes around one-half of the transactions for each full time equivalent staff member achieved by the comparator organisations.[31] The Department thought that it was never likely to achieve average private sector performance levels, primarily because the limited size of the Department's workforce, totalling around 18,000 people, meant that it does not have the economies of scale available in the private sector. In addition, Government reporting requirements differ from those in the private sector and make the shared service system's processing arrangements more complex.[32]

16. Both the National Audit Office and the Department found that users of the Shared Service Centre had low confidence in the current system.[33] The Department accepted that it had damaged the standing of shared services by rushing the introduction of the new arrangements. It believed, however, that the experience of other public and private sector organisations that have implemented shared services suggested that the lack of confidence users have in the new system in the first year was par for the course.

17. The Department was encouraged by the experience of the NHS Shared Business Service which reported that user satisfaction levels had increased as staff became more familiar with shared services. In that example, the proportion of users who felt that the new arrangements were better than those that existed previously increased from 25% initially to 83% after two years.[34] We are concerned, however, that current levels of performance and some of the problems users have experienced, such as poor service levels and the quality of training received, indicate that this is not just a matter of users increasing their confidence of the system. We are also concerned that the Department is not taking users' concerns seriously. For example, it told us that it does not consider some performance indicators, such as those relating to creating and maintaining customer details, as important. This is despite the fact that the accuracy of these details is important to those using the system and in building their trust.[35]



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