Citizens Charter

HC Deb 09 May 1994 vol 243 cc15-6

34. Mr. Brandreth

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what assessments have been made of the extent of the changes in efficiency and quality of public services as a result of the application of the citizens charter.

Mr. David Davis

The citizens charter second report, published in March, reported fully on improvements in efficiency and quality in public services since the launch of the citizens charter. Individual services also assess improvements and publish their performance results.

Mr. Brandreth

Will my hon. Friend confirm that the total cost of the citizens charter programme amounts to less than 2p per family per week? Does he agree that that represents excellent value, given the improvement in services and the pressure for improvement in public services? Is not that the reason why overseas countries are now using our citizen charters as an example of the way in which they may exert pressure for an improvement in public services?

Mr. Davis

My hon. Friend is right. More than 30 countries—France, North America and many others—have come to see or have considered our experiences in this matter. He is right to say that there has been a considerable improvement in services. One example that leaps to mind arose from the league tables for schools, which led to significant improvements for a number of schools in the past few years.

Mr. Barnes

What changes are there in efficiency and quality as a result of the scrapping of the charterline experiment in the east midlands? How much did that wasteful experiment cost and should not the money have been used for other purposes, such as supply to local authorities in the area to enable them to inform people of the services that they provide?

Mr. Davis

As I have told the hon. Gentleman before, the majority of the money that was spent on charterline went into the development and research phase. That was used to create a database and to provide information for a number of other services. For example, the Royal Mail is producing a directory of all homes and services in the country at no cost to the taxpayer; the BBC will have a telephone helpline; and directories such as the British Telecom and Thomson directories will also use the information. That is all for the benefit of the taxpayer.