§ Mr. Gordon PrenticeTo ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Citizen's Charter in raising standards in the public services. [35743]
§ Dr. David ClarkWe recently carried out an extensive consultation to find out people's views on the Citizen's Charter Programme. The majority of respondents believed that the programme had made a significant contribution to the improvement in public services over recent years. We have also carried out a thorough evaluation of The Charter Mark Award Scheme which was also broadly positive.
But both the consultation and evaluation showed scope for improvement. Notably the Programme had not always tackled issues that really mattered to users. I intend to put this right when the new Charter programme is launched later in the spring, as part of the wider Better Government initiative.