Citizens Charter (Hansard, 18 March 1993)

§ Mr. Ronnie Campbell
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what was the cost to his Department of the implementation of the citizens charter in each year since its inception; and if he will give a breakdown of those costs.

Mr. Jackson
During 1991–92 the charter unit spent £1.6 million on the followingThe launch of the citizens charter, including producing, publicising and distributing the citizens charter White Paper (Cm1599) and the guide to the citzens charter—£916,000 The launch of 1992 charter mark scheme—£320,000 Staff, general administrative expenses and capital expenditure—£346,000
The charter unit expects to spend £2.1 million in 1992–93 on the following:

Running 1992 charter mark scheme and launch of 1993 scheme—£600,000

Charterline market research, and development work on pilot project—£250,000

Publicising citizens charter first report and producing summary guide, ethnic minority versions and versions for the partially sighted—£420,00

Part payment of customer survey—£30,000

Staff, general administrative expenses and capital expenditure—£800,000

§ Mr. Ronnie Campbell
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will outline the main successes of the citizens charter since its introduction and list the benefits of the charter to date.

Mr. Jackson
The citizens charter first report (Cmnd 2101), published November 1992, shows considerable progress in raising the standards of public services and making them more responsive to the needs and concerns of their users. We have met, or put in hand, over 90 per cent. of the policy commitments set out in the initial citizens charter programme of action (Cmnd 1599). These include:

The publication of 30 charters setting demanding, but realistic, standards for health, education, public transport and other important public services;

The introduction of outpatient appointment times, and of a maximum 2-year waiting time for hospital admission;
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The publication of comparative performance data on schools and local authorities;

The provision of annual written reports on each child's school performance;

The introduction of legislation to strengthen regulators' powers; to increase information given to parents on each child's and school's performance; and to prepare the way for detailed reporting on local authority performance;

The strengthening of Inspectorates of schools, the police, prisons and social services through greater independence; lay involvement; and openness;

The introduction of new compensation schemes for British Rail and London Underground; and

The introduction of the national Charter Mark awards scheme to recognise excellence in public service.

The citizens charter is a long term programme for improvement in public service. Following the ministerial seminar held on 17 February to review progress and set future agenda, we announced plans to:

Extend the patients charter to primary care;

Set a standard 18-month waiting limit for hips, knees and cataract operations;

Publish further and higher education charters setting service standards for students;

Publish comparative information on further education;

Revise and update the parents charter;

Publish a charter for the Child Support Agency to be launched in April;

Develop the Benefits Agency one-stop shop programme;

Appoint a new complaints adjudicator for the Inland Revenue;

Appoint new lay inspectors to the inspectorate of constabulary;

Introduce a housing corporation ombudsman to handle tenants' complaints;

Establish the Charterline service to provide information on the charter initiative, on published charters and service standards, and on complaints systems where things go wrong;

Include charter standards in British Rail franchises contracts;

Establish a complaints task force to look at the effectiveness of public service complaints procedures; and

Conduct a national survey of people's priorities for future charter development.