§ Mr. CrausbyTo ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what actions she is taking to increase the productivity and reduce the running costs of her Department. [103844]
§ Mr. Ian McCartneyDelivering efficient and modern public services is a key part of the Government's agenda for improving productivity. Greater efficiency is being sought therefore within the public sector to ensure that the most effective results are obtained from available576W resources. The Department's Public Service Agreement (PSA) is published within "The Public Service Agreements 1999–2002" [CM 4181] and includes a range of measures for taking this forward, both within the Department itself and in other public sector bodies.
Those measures will help raise the Department's own productivity as follows:
Creation of the Better Quality Services Review programme. The programme allows the Department to achieve its PSA target of reviewing 60 per cent. of its activities by March 2003.Managing and maintaining low sickness absence within the Department. A target reduction of 5 per cent. overall between 1998–2003 is planned.The Department's active involvement in promoting action on procurement across the service. It has prepared an action plan following the report on "Efficiency in Civil Government Procurement" and is working closely with the Treasury to ensure delivery across the service and with its own domestic procurement agencies to ensure their contribution. The Department is on track to meet its PSA target for increasing the proportion of electronic procurement transactions within 1999–2000.The Department's gross running costs provision for 1999–2000 to 2001–02 is set out in its PSA. The productivity measures listed above will enable the Department to increase the quantity and quality of outputs delivered by its running costs expenditure over this period.