§ Mr. Barry JonesTo ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if he will make a statement on the performance of the main departments and agencies against the six service standards for central Government over the last financial year. [92879]
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Department/Agency Target (working days) Total volume Percentage of responses within target Target 1999–2000 (working days) Agencies included Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food 15 118,644 91 15 Yes Cabinet Office 15 5,774 99.5 15 Yes Crown Prosecution Service1 10 2,017 82.6 10 n/a Department for Culture, Media and Sport18 18 28,861 71 18 No HM Customs and Excise 10 794,746 91 10 n/a Ministry of Defence 20 8,769 78 20 Yes Department of Education and Employment 15 108,000 89 15 No Employment Service2 10 Not measured 94 10 Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions 15 66,273 78 15 No Driving Standards Agency 15 15,248 99 15 DVLA 15 417,028 97 15 Highways Agency 15 32,000 83 15 Maritime Coastguard Agency 15 13,269 93 15 Vehicle Inspectorate 15 2,567 93 15 Foreign and Commonwealth Office 20 35,971 87 20 No Government Offices for the Regions10 Max 15 N/A Between 81 and 100 Max 15 n/a Department of Health16 20 52,656 63 20 Yes NHS Pensions Agency 20 15,364 100 20 Home Office14 20 150,699 23 20 No UK Passport Agency 10 71,503 97 10 Prison Service 20 34,045 85 20 Inland Revenue11 20 86,000,000 80 20 n/a Intervention Board 10 13,318 79 10 Lord Chancellor's Department 20 5,490 72 20 No Court Service6 10 4,591,004 97 10 Court Service HQ 20 6,995 98 20 Land Registry 3 323,513 94 3 Public Trust Office 20 87,926 96 20 NI Court Service 20 97 96 20 Public Record Office 10 28,045 99.5 10 Department of Social Security17 20 26,984 60 20 No Benefits Agency13 10 11,132,631 81–88 10 Contributions Agency 20 377,831 97 20 Child Support Agency8 10 Not recorded 56 10 War Pensions Agency9 10 260,000 71.4 10 Department of Trade and Industry 15 162,000 92 15 No
§ Dr. Jack CunninghamI have arranged for a report on the performance of the main Departments and agencies to be placed in the Libraries of the House. This is the second report on performance against the six service standards and reflects our continuing commitment to openness and to reporting transparently on our performance.
The report shows that, in many cases, performance in responding to correspondence from the public has improved over the past year. There have been some exceptional performances, although there have also been some disappointing results. Overall, there is still room for improvement, and all Departments and agencies are striving to do better this year. The performance of the main Departments and agencies is summarised in the table.
Against the other standards, the report shows that users with pre-arranged meetings are usually seen within 10 minutes of their appointment, that all Departments have at least one telephone inquiry point, and that all Departments now have complaints procedures in place covering all their services. The report also shows some of the innovative ways in which Departments and agencies are consulting their users and making their services more accessible.
The Modernising Government White Paper announced some changes to the standards for this financial year, in particular the introduction on 1 October 1999 of new standards covering the length of time users should wait to be seen in public offices, the setting up of e-mail inquiry points, and how long users of telephone inquiry points should have to wait before their calls are answered.
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Department/Agency Target (working days) Total volume Percentage of responses within target Target 1999–2000 (working days) Agencies included Agencies15 10 1,020,000 97 10 HM Treasury12 15 24,000 See note 15 No Valuation Office 15 35,000 87 15 Scottish Office 20 200,000 76 20 No National Archives of Scotland 10 4,499 87 10 Student Awards Agency 15 7,682 94 15 Scottish Courts Service 3 (Supreme Courts) Not collected 19100 3 2 (Sheriff Courts) Not collected 1996 2 Scottish Prison Service 20 6,347 97 20 Welsh Office 15 90,745 90 15 Yes
Northern Ireland Departments and the NIO Department/Agency Target (working days) Total volume Percentage of responses within target Target 1999–2000 (working days) Department of Agriculture 15 5,944 94 15 Department of Economic Development 15 30,000 98 15 Department of Education 15 3,826 98 15 Department of Environment 15 26,773 95 15 Department of Finance and Personnel 15 66,646 99 15 Department of Health and Social Services 15 2,246 88 5 Northern Ireland Office3 15 205,221 89.6 15 Child Support Agency 10 1,559 79 10 Driver and Vehicle Licensing 3 14,344 100 3 Prison Service4 15 2,400 100 15 Public Record Office 14 3,000 98 14 Rate Collection Agency 10 50,442 89 10 Social Security Agency 15 21,451 93 15 Training and Employment Agency5 5 Not known 67 5 1 This figure represents complaints only. 2 The Employment Service measures performance by asking an independent research company to sample 4,000 letters. The Chief Executive's Office received 657 letters and replied to 96 per cent. within a 15-day target (against a target of 95 per cent.). 3 Includes NIO Core, Forensic Science Agency, and Compensation Agency. Performance is calculated by a mixture of 100 per cent. monitoring and sampling. 4 Performance measured in two sampling periods. 5 Performance measured by sampling. 6 These figures represent correspondence received in the county courts only and exclude correspondence received at the Crown Court, High Court, Tribunals and Probate Offices. 7 All Ministerial Cases (MCs) are monitored, others are measured by sampling. Have now introduced a 15-day target for all correspondence. 8 Sample of 2,400 used to measure performance. 9 Chief Executive correspondence: 808 letters replied to, 97.7 per cent. within 20-days target. Private Office, PCA and Official Correspondence: 2,296 items replied to, 97.9 per cent. in 10-day target. These figures based on 100 per cent. monitoring. General correspondence monitored by monthly sample 10 Composite figures for all regional offices. 11 Total correspondence received is the number of items of post received by the Department's network of offices and includes internal mail. Performance is measured by monthly sampling and holding replies are not counted as having met the standard. 12 HM Treasury introduced a system to monitor correspondence in April this year. 13 The Benefits Agency replies to 82.5 per cent. of general correspondence in 10 days, 88.3 per cent. of letters advising them of change of circumstances within 6 days and 81 per cent. of complaints within 7 days. These figures exclude parliamentary correspondence. 14 This figure is based on returns monitored on new tracking systems for all correspondence and is not comparable with previous annual returns that were based on sampling. 15 This represents the volume of correspondence received by four of the DTI's agencies (Companies House, Insolvency Service, Patent Office and Radiocommunications Agency). 16 This represents all correspondence received centrally excluding campaign mail. 17 This represents correspondence addressed to Ministers by members of the pubic about policy matters. 18 Correspondence addressed to DCMS Ministers. 19 Sampled.