56/99
31st March 1999
SEVEN NEW CONTRACTS DRIVE FORWARD PUBLIC
SERVICES MODERNISATION
NEW TARGETS SET FOR SOCIAL SECURITY SYSTEM
The Government's modernisation of public services was given further impetus today with the publication of seven new contracts detailing major planned improvements in both quality and efficiency.
The contracts, known as Public Service Agreements (PSAs), cover services such as social security, utility regulators and the Sure Start programme for families.
The new PSAs, published following yesterday's Modernising Government White Paper, set targets which key services will have to meet in exchange for the extra investment the Government is making in them.
Launching the PSAs, Chief Secretary to the Treasury Alan Milburn said: "These PSAs are part of the biggest drive to modernise public services our country has ever seen. We are determined to see a step change so that the public get more responsive, more efficient and more reliable services.
"The Government has invested record extra amounts in our key services. But more money is not enough. Our public services have to modernise as well. Too often governments in the past concentrated only on what they put in to public services. Not what they got out.
"This Government's new approach is to focus on outcomes rather than simply on inputs. It is money for modernisation with funding tied to results. The PSAs set clear targets which public services will deliver in exchange for the extra investment they are receiving.
"They are a contract with the people. A promise of improvements in both the quality and the efficiency of the services the public pay for and use."
Key targets for social security include:
- to simplify the system, so as to be able to assess liability to pay child support maintenance, on average, within 7 weeks by the end of 2002;
- to reduce the number of lone parents dependant on Income Support by 10% by 2002, and the number of lone parents dependant on Income Support for more than 5 years by 7% by 2002;
- to provide from 2002 facilities to enable participating employers and pension providers to give people their current and projected state pension entitlement with existing annual private pension statements;
- to reduce by 30% benefit losses from fraud and errors in Income Support and Jobseekers' Allowance by March 2007, with at least a 10% reduction by March 2002.
Alistair Darling, Secretary of State for Social Security, said:
" The DSS Public Service Agreement (PSA) sets out the crucial targets and measurements for the next stage in the Government's modernisation of the welfare system.
Welfare reform will ensure that benefits go to those for whom they were intended by:
- reducing error and preventing fraud;
- providing a system that is efficient and effective and easy for people to use; and
- by making the best use of the resources available.
The modern social security system will provide clear and enforceable gateways to enable people to meet their responsibilities and to take the opportunities available to them."
Key targets for the Government's Sure Start programme to improve support in Sure Start areas for families and children before and after birth includes by 2001/2:
- a 10% reduction in children reregistered on a child protection register;
- at least 90 per cent of children to have normal speech and language development at 18 months and 3 years;
- parenting information and support to be available for all parents.
Key targets for the utility regulators include:
- promoting the publication of comparable information by suppliers to enable customers to make an informed choice about their gas and electricity supplies;
- ensuring that no BT residential customer experiences any real increase in their bills (based on the same usage and normal calling pattern) annually to July 2001;
- setting new water leakage targets each year.
The Public Service Agreements published today build on the interim targets for DSS and Sure Start set out in last year's PSA White Paper, and set new targets for a number of other bodies.
The Government also published today in the form of Output and Performance Analyses the indicators that will be used to measure and monitor progress against the targets that have been set.
Alan Milburn said: "Our key priority now in Government is to deliver the improvements we have promised. We will report regularly on the progress we are making."
NOTES TO EDITORS
The background to the Public Service Agreements was set out in Chapter 4 of the Comprehensive Spending Review White Paper (Cm 4011) published on 14 July 1998.
The Public Service Agreements White Paper entitled "Public Services for the Future: Modernisation, Reform, Accountability" (Cm 4181) was published on 17 December 1998.
Today's document, the March 1999 Supplement (Cm 4315) is available from HMSO bookshops.