Service Standards (Hansard, 31 July 1998)

§ Dr. Jack Cunningham

The six standards came into effect on 1 April 1997. An analysis of the main departments' performance over the 12 months to 31 March 1998 showed that they generally had both telephone inquiry

Department	Target (working days)	Total volume	Percentage of responses within target	Target 1998–99	Agencies included
Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food¹	15	65,410	89	15	yes
Cabinet Office (OPS)	15	6,226	95.6	15	yes
Department for Culture, Media and Sport²	18	21,162	68	18	no
Customs and Excise	10	572,430	89	10	n/a
Ministry of Defence³	20	5,922	96	20	yes
Department for Education and Employment	15	116,417	88	15	no
Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions⁴	15	672,980	96	15	yes
Department of Health¹	20	46,675	66	20	yes
Home Office	20	⁵173,285	81	20	⁶—
Inland Revenue	20	⁷85m	⁸73.7	20	n/a
Lord Chancellor's Department	20	10,200	77	20	no
Northern Ireland Office (including Northern Ireland Departments)	15	198,160	94	15	⁹—
Department of Social Security	20	¹⁰32,618	77	20	no
Scottish Office	20	200,000	71	20	yes
Department of Trade and Industry	15	133,200	95	15	no
Welsh Office	15	65,087	86	15	yes
Benefits Agency²	20	25,816	92	20	n/a
Child Support Agency	10	¹¹—	67	10	n/a
Child Support Agency (Northern Ireland)	10	2,981	89	10	n/a
Contributions Agency	20	259,302	92	20	n/a
Court Service	10	⁷4,534,387	99.5	10	n/a
Employment Service	10	¹²—	91	10	n/a
Social Security Agency (Northern Ireland)	15	41,609	96.5	15	n/a
¹ Correspondence received between 1 November 1997 and 31 March 1998
² Figures relate to correspondence addressed to Ministers
³ Correspondence addressed to Ministers, e-mailed to the MOD web site, and mail on defence issues received by other departments between 1 August 1997 and 31 March 1998
⁴ As a result of the large increase in correspondence after the General Election it was often impossible for letters to be passed to answering the division within 15 days. Consequently many parts of the Department have interpreted the target as being a response within 15 days of receipt in the responding division, rather than from when the letter was actually received in the Department
⁵ The number of letters received by the Central Correspondence Unit from members of the public, and the percentage of letters meeting the target, was taken from a statistically monitored sample
⁶ Includes all Home Office agencies except the Prison Service
⁷ This is the number of items of post received by the Department's network of offices
⁸ Holding replies are not counted in order to maximise the incentive to issue full replies quickly
⁹ Includes all Northern Ireland departments' agencies except the Prison Service, and the CSA(NI) and SSA(NI) whose performance is shown separately
¹⁰ In addition 17,151 letters were received from DSS HQ but were passed on to the Department's executive agencies for reply and are therefore included in the agencies' return
¹¹ Total volumes are not recorded. Performance is calculated through a sample, which in 1997–98 was just under 25,000 letters
¹² Total volume not known. The performance against target was calculated by evaluating 4,000 letters sent out by a research company. In the same period some 780 letters were received addressed to Ministers—80.6 per cent, of these were cleared within 15 days

I will be placing a more detailed summary of performance by the main departments and agencies against the six standards in the Libraries of the House. I believe the Whitehall Standards are an important tool for improving the quality of Central Government services. This is the first time such information has 648W points and complaints procedures in place, were consulting their users, and were trying to make their services more accessible, for example, through greater use of new technology and the publication of information in minority languages. On appointments, the results showed that people were generally seen within 10 minutes of a pre-arranged appointment.

The performance of the main departments and agencies in responding to letters from the public is set out in the table.

been made available. It shows our commitment to open government and to reporting transparently on our performance. We plan to retain the standards in their present form until 31 March 1999, when they will be reviewed and if necessary revised.

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