Total Quality Management (Hansard, 27 April 1993)

§ 2. Mr. Stephen
To ask the Secretary of State for Employment whether she will use the techniques of total quality management to measure the extent to which her Department is efficiently delivering the service which industry and commerce need.

§ The Minister of State, Department of Employment (Mr. Michael Forsyth)
Total quality management has a part to play in the Department's drive to improve services and to ensure value for money.

§ Mr. Stephen
Will my hon. Friend ask a senior official in his Department to liaise closely with the European Foundation for Quality Management and to explore whether the excellent self-assessment model it has developed would benefit the public service?

§ Mr. Forsyth
Anything that improves quality management at a European level is to be welcomed. I will pass on my hon. Friend's helpful suggestion to officials in the Department.

§ Mr. McAllion
Does the Minister accept that his Department's ability to deliver services efficiently depends at least in part on its reputation for honesty? That being so, can he explain to the House why he allowed Sir Robin Butler, the head of the civil service, to write to civil service unions on 16 March saying that the imposition of no-strike clauses on public sector workers was not even under consideration when, 18 days earlier on 26 February, the Secretary of State for Employment had written to the Secretary of State for Education saying that she intended to amend the Employment Bill to make industrial action by public sector workers unlawful? That letter was copied and sent to Sir Robin Butler.
Either Sir Robin Butler is so inefficient that he does not even read letters from the Secretary of State for Employment which are copied and sent to him or he is deliberately covering up for the Government by misleading civil service unions. Which is it? Did the Department know about that? If so, did it consent to it?

§ Mr. Forsyth
The trouble with the hon. Gentleman is that when he scrabbles around in dustbins reading bits of paper, he ends up misinformed. The position that the Cabinet Secretary set out—which is that the Government have not considered introducing, nor do they have any plans to introduce, legislation to prevent industrial action in the public sector—remains the case. The hon. Gentleman is at a disadvantage in that he has relied for his information on scraps of paper that were based on leaked information.

§ Mr. Evennett
Does my hon. Friend agree that the training and enterprise council network is improving the quality and effectiveness of his Department's training programme? Does he agree that the job seekers charter is improving the service throughout the Employment Service? Both schemes are to be welcomed and encouraged, and show that his Department is doing a good job for people seeking jobs.

§ Mr. Forsyth
I agree with my hon. Friend. Since my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State took charge of the Department, the number of opportunities for the unemployed to obtain help in getting back to work or to obtain help with training has increased from around 1 million to 1,600,000. That dramatic record of achievement has been thanks to the efforts of the Employment Service, the training and enterprise councils and Ministers across the Government. I should have thought that that would be welcomed by everyone in the House.