§ 18. Mr. Gordon PrenticeTo ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what policy initiatives of her Department have been tested on the people's panel; and with what result. [148786]
§ Mr. StringerThe People's Panel is directed towards service delivery more than policy questions. But research has been used to inform various policy initiatives. Within the Cabinet Office it has contributed to the following:
Consumer Focus for Public Services
188WThe fifth wave of research, published in September 2000, was carried out to support the consumer focus for public services initiative by establishing a baseline for public satisfaction and expectations of public services in different sectors.Policy in Deprived Areas
The Social Exclusion Unit in the Cabinet Office commissioned a re-analysis of data from the first wave of research to examine responses from people living in deprived areas, to determine how they differed from those living in other areas. The results were also published in September 2000.Public service provision and ethnic minority communities:
In June 2000, the results of a first wave of research with the recruitment of an ethnic minority booster to the Panel were published. These show what people from ethnic minority communities think of the services they receive and how their opinions differ across and between different ethnic minority groups. Future research will be used by Government to help improve services.Extended Hours Provision of Public Services
Research carried out in 1999 asked which out-of-hours services people wanted access to; what sort of business they would use them for; when they would want to be able to make contact; and how. The results were published in April 2000. "Making it happen: public services at your convenience" was published in September 2000 showing how the five key services (non-emergency services in NHS hospitals, GP surgeries, social services, the Passport Agency, and local government services) identified in the research were making service hours more convenient for their customers.Notifying Change of Address On-line
In January 1999, the Panel was used to assess reactions to a proposal for enabling electronic notification of change of address details to be passed to Government Departments in one transaction. Panel members joined workshops testing out the technology. The results were published in April 2000. In November 2000, a pilot change of address service was developed on the UK online citizen portal www.ukonline.gov.uk which allows people to send new address details to participating Government Departments, as well as those utility and other commercial organisations offered by the change of address providers.Listening to Women
During January and February 1999, the People's Panel was used as part of the Listening to Women exercise which, among other things, has been used to inform and influence Government Departments on the needs of women as decisions have been taken to modernise public services.Modernising Government
In February 1999, the People's Panel was used to find out about the experiences of citizens using public services to evaluate how well Departments and agencies work together to deliver a joined-up service, and identify suggestions for improvement. The work was commissioned as part of the research for the Modernising Government White Paper.Access Pages
Research was carried out in August 1999 to help the Cabinet Office prepare a new directory that brings together information for the main Government helplines and websites. The directory was published in October 1999.