Performance Targets (Hansard, 30 March 1995)

§ Mr. Lilley

The targets I have set my executive agencies for 1995–96 are given.

The targets represent a significant challenge to each agency, and support the continued success of the citizen's charter and next steps programmes.

As well as performance targets, I have also set resource management targets requiring agencies to deliver their services within agreed financial resources.

Further information on my agencies' plans for 1995–96 is contained in their individual business plans which have been published today. Copies have been placed in the Library.

The targets for 1995–96 are:

BENEFITS AGENCY
1 Benefit clearance times¹
Social fund crisis loans—the day the need arises.
Income support new claims—63 per cent. of claims cleared in five days and 87 per cent. in 13 days.
Incapacity benefit—65 per cent. of claims cleared in 10 days and 85 per cent. in 30 days.
Child benefit—68 per cent. of claims cleared in 10 days and 94 per cent. in 30 days.
Family credit—60 per cent. of claims cleared in 13 days and 95 per cent. in 42 days.
Disability living allowance—68 per cent. of claims cleared in 30 days and 85 per cent. in 53 days.
2 Benefit Accuracy
Income support—to pay the correct amount in 87 per cent. of cases.
Incapacity benefit—to pay the correct amount in 94 per cent. of cases.
Family credit—to pay the correct amount in 91 per cent. of cases.
Disability living allowance—to pay the correct amount in 96 per cent. of cases.
3 Customer satisfaction
85 per cent. of customers to regard the agency's service as satisfactory or better.
4 Resource management
To manage the agency's resources so as to d%liver its business plan within the gross budget allocation.
To keep to the net cash limited provision for the discretionary social fund budget approved by Parliament.
To deliver new efficiency savings of at least £75 million.
5 Financial recovery
Recovery of social fund loans—£273 million.
Benefit savings from the detection of fraud—£680 million.
Recovery of benefit overpayments—£110 million.
CONTRIBUTIONS AGENCY
1 Performance: compliance
Collection of contribution arrears, excluding central payments section, of £250 million.
Identification of £133 million class 1 arrears as a result of compliance work.
Carry out 116,500 surveys, including 23,300 employer educational visits.
Actively identify 40,000 persons with class 2 liability who have an immediate requirement to pay contributions.
2 Performance: records maintenance
Process 98 per cent. of available employers' end of year returns by 31 December 1995.
Correct 92 per cent. of rejects from employers' end of year returns by 31 March 1996.
3 Performance: information provision/customer service
Clear 99 per cent. of benefit inquiries handled clerically in two working days to 98 per cent. accuracy.
Despatch either a full reply, or an informative response to 95 per cent. of customer enquiries within 10 working days of receipt.
Complete action to register acceptable personal pension cases and process straight-forward termination notices for 95 per cent. of all cases within 22 working days of receipt.
4. Customer satisfaction
Provide a level of public service considered to be satisfactory by at least 80 per cent. of customers surveyed.
5. Resource management
Manage the agency's resources so as to deliver its business plan within a total budget of £240.244 million.
CHILD SUPPORT AGENCY
1. Performance
£300 million of maintenance to be collected, or arranged for direct payment from AP to PWC IN 1995–96.²
90 per cent. of payments made to PWCs to be made within 10 working days of receipt from the AP.
To achieve a rapid and continuing improvement in accuracy so that in at least 75 per cent. of cases checked during March 1996 the cash value will be for the correct amount.
Where a client is dissatisfied with a child support officer's decision and requests a review, 50 per cent. to be cleared within 13 weeks; 80 per cent. to be cleared within 26 weeks; and no more than 20 per cent. to be older than 26 weeks as at 31 March 1996.
60 per cent. of new maintenance applications to be cleared within 26 weeks and as at 31 March 1996 no more than 10 per cent. of all maintenance applications received by the agency to be over 52 weeks old.
2. Customer satisfaction
To achieve a score of 65 per cent. on an index of client satisfaction with the agency's service, as determined by an independent national survey.
3. Resource management
To manage the agency's resources so as to deliver its Business Plan within the gross budget allocation.
WAR PENSIONS AGENCY
1. Performance
Disablement first claims (UK)—60 per cent. cleared in 150 days
Disablement second and subsequent claims—60 per cent. cleared in 135 days.
War widows claims (UK)—80 per cent. cleared in 70 days.
Entitlement appeals—70 per cent. in 275 days.
Assessment appeals—70 per cent. in 190 days.
Claims Accuracy, all claims—95 per cent.
2 Customer satisfaction
To achieve a level of 85 per cent. of war pensioners sampled who regard the agency's service as satisfactory or better, as determined by an independent survey.
3 Resource Management
To manage the agency's administration resources so as to deliver the business plan within a total budget of £40.56 million.
RESETTLEMENT AGENCY
1 Disengagement strategy
Ensure sufficient replacement bedspaces are operational to enable the closure of Leeds and Bishopbriggs (Glasgow) resettlement units and thereby completion of the disengagement programme by 31 March 1996.
2 Customer care
Visit 30 per cent. of grant-aided organisations by 31 March 1996 to ensure that the conditions of the grant award are met, that facilities are managed in a way which ensures value for money and to establish levels of customer care, with a view to dissemination of best practice throughout the network of hostel provision.
3 Resettlement
Ensure that the objective of successful resettlement is maintained through the Resettlement Agency's own systems of measurement, including extending the use of its resettlement index to 50 per cent. of grant-aided organisations.
4 Planning
In collaboration with DSS headquarters, plan and effect the orderly transfer of appropriate residual agency functions to them, assuming that all possible business is concluded by 31 March 1996 and that ministerial approval for funding and monitoring arrangements from April 1996 is agreed.
5 Resource management
Manage the agency's resources so as to deliver its business plan within a total allocation of £26,975 million.
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SERVICES AGENCY
1 Performance
Deliver an overall business efficiency improvement of 8 per cent.
Deliver 90 per cent. of services to customers to service levels for budget, time and quality as agreed within contracts.
During 1995–96 to outsource the bulk of ITSA's IT processing functions to departmental time scales.
Define the three-year contract frameworks with customers for core systems development.
2 Resource management
Manage ITSA's resources within the agency's funding regime.

Notes:

¹Clearance times cover the date of receipt of a written claim in the agency to the date of decision/payment. All days refer to working days.

² The maintenance target comprises the following two forecast components:

£140 million of maintenance will be collected by the agency and £160 million assessed by the agency for direct payment by absent parents to parents with care; and

£540 million benefit savings are expected to result from the achievement of CSA targets.