• Skip Navigation
• Help |
• Contact us |
• Access keys |
• Site map |
• A-Z

• Home 
• Budget 
• Pre-Budget Report 
• Spending Review  
• • 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review  
  • 2002 Spending Review  
  • 2000 Spending Review  
  • 1998 Comprehensive Spending Review  
  • 2004 Spending Review  
  • Public Expenditure Planning and Control in the UK  

• Newsroom & speeches 
• Economic data & tools 
• Consultations & legislation 
• Independent reviews 

• Enterprise & productivity 
• Financial services 
• International issues 
• Public private partnerships 
• Public spending & reporting 
• Taxation, work and welfare 
• UK economy 
• The Euro 
• Invest to save budget (ISB) 

• About us 
• Careers 
• Other HMT sites 

Chapter 1: Introduction

Chapter 1: Introduction

This White Paper sets out Public Service Agreements (PSAs) for all main departments for 2001 to 2004. These:

• set out around 160 targets covering the key areas of Government;
• continue the move beyond a narrow emphasis on resources to consider not just outputs, but outcomes: reducing crime, improving health and raising standards in our schools; and
• are transparent commitments which the Government can be held accountable for, and which departments will report on every year in departmental reports.

A commitment to deliver better public services

1.1 Delivering better public services is about more than how much the Government spends; it depends crucially on how effectively the Government uses these resources. As an integral part of the process of allocating resources, the 2000 Spending Review has set the objectives and targets which Government will deliver, consistent with its priorities for increasing opportunity for all, building responsible and secure communities, raising productivity and sustainable growth and securing a modern international role for Britain.

1.2 The 1998 Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) made an important step forward in delivering improvements in public services, through the innovation of Public Service Agreements (PSAs). Through the PSAs the Government made clear it was investing in reform, better public services and a step change in the way they were delivered.

1.3 This White Paper continues that process by setting out, for every major government department, its aim, objectives and the targets against which success will be measured, including targets on improving value for money and efficiency. It signals, in around 160 high level and outcome-focused commitments, the Government's priorities and its strategic agenda for public services for the next three years.

1.4 These PSAs are a clear commitment to the public on what they can expect for their money and each agreement sets out explicitly which minister is accountable for delivery of the targets underpinning that commitment. The publication of PSAs is of course only the beginning. Every department will be working hard to ensure that the targets are delivered. Progress in delivering these targets will be monitored closely by Government and reported in annual departmental reports.

Improving co-ordination

1.5 The Government recognises that the issues which the public sector needs to tackle are not always the responsibility of a single government department. Through its focus on outcomes, the PSA process helps to break down artificial barriers in policy making and delivery: encouraging departments to think together about their joint priorities, and work together to deliver change.

1.6 Where responsibilities and interests overlap, departments have been encouraged to set a single joint target which recognises their common goal. For example, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Department for Trade and Industry are jointly committed to maintaining the UK as the prime location for foreign direct investment.

1.7 To improve coordination further, fifteen cross-departmental reviews were undertaken as part of the 2000 Spending Review, focusing on key issues from crime reduction and intervention in deprived areas to science research and the knowledge economy. PSAs arising from five of these cross-departmental reviews are included in this White Paper, with targets emerging from the work of all the others detailed in Chapter 25. For example, through measures identified in the Welfare to Work and ONE review, HM Treasury, DfEE and DSS will work jointly to increase employment over the economic cycle. Likewise, as a result of the Criminal Justice System review, the Home Office, Lord Chancellor's Department and the Law Officers' Departments are committed to working together to raise confidence in the system and increase both the number and proportion of crimes for which an offender is brought to justice.

1.8 In each case, accountability arrangements are clearly defined, with the relevant Ministers held jointly responsible for the delivery of the target.

1.9 Coordination goes beyond ensuring central government departments work together to set priorities and improve public services. In education, social services and many other areas local government will play a crucial role in delivering targets set at a national level. As an important element of the 2000 Spending Review process, central government worked closely with the Local Government Association (LGA) to ensure that the implications for local service delivery were fully considered.

1.10 The Local Government PSA set out in Chapter 24 draws together the targets listed in departmental PSAs which the Government relies on local authorities and their local partners to deliver. A new central and local government concordat for local services underlines the LGA's shared commitment to deliver the improved quality of life which the achievement of demanding targets in these areas would go a long way to secure. To strengthen this partnership at the local level, local PSAs will be piloted with up to 20 local authorities in 2001-02, ahead of a possible wider roll-out in 2002-03. They will provide a means of bringing together national and local targets by agreement between the Government and individual local authorities.

Learning and developing

1.11 As the Government recognised at the time of the 1998 CSR, setting targets for central Government was a process that would need to be refined over time.

1.12 In the 2000 Spending Review, the Government has further developed the PSA documents, in order to prioritise the most important goals and reforms it wants to deliver.

The PSAs in this White Paper cover the work of the major government departments. Smaller departments make a significant contribution to the delivery of key priorities, but it is usually a main department that is responsible at a high level.

New Service Delivery Agreements (SDAs) will be published in the autumn covering the work of both main and smaller departments. These will set out the more detailed outputs which departments will need to focus on to achieve their objectives, and the modernisation processes they will go though to improve the productivity of their operations. These new SDAs replace the section on increasing the productivity of operations in the 1998 Comprehensive Spending Review PSAs.

In order to make the PSAs a real tool for transparency and accountability, the Government has attempted to make the targets as clear and readable as possible. It is important both for the accurate collection of information, and the rigorous monitoring and reporting of progress, that the precise technical details are agreed, and are publicly available. To this end all departments will be publishing Technical Notes later in the year, which will specify precisely what will be measured under each target.

1.13 These refinements have been designed to add clarity to the priorities set out in the 2000 Spending Review PSAs without losing the strict measurability and accountability of the new process. The Government will be monitoring delivery of the targets set out after the 1998 CSFINDER DAT"

Back to top

• Terms & conditions
• RSS Feed
• 
•