Tony WrightTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the performance targets that his Department, its agencies and non-departmental public bodies are required to meet, apart from those set out in the public service agreements for 1999 to 2002 and 2001 to 2004; and if he will specify for each target(a) who sets it and (b) who monitors achievement against it. [60471]
§ Mr. LammyThe key performance targets for the Department's agencies and non-departmental public bodies are set by Ministers and are published as part of their business plans. Achievement against the targets is reported on by the agencies in their annual report and accounts. Copies of these documents are available from the Library.
For each agency or non-departmental public body, monitoring of performance against the targets during the year is carried out by a senior official of the Department who is responsible for the performance management of the body concerned. For the agencies further scrutiny is carried out by the non-executive ministerial advisory boards.
In addition the Department is committed to six standards for the delivery of public services to meet the needs of citizens. These standards are called Service First and include:
- 1. Answering correspondence (includes letters, faxes and emails) within twenty working days;
- 2. Seeing callers with an appointment within 10 minutes of that appointment time; and seeing callers without an appointment within 20 minutes;
- 3. Answering telephone calls quickly and helpfully within 10 rings;
- 4. Provide clear and straightforward information about its services and those of related providers;
- 5. Have a complaints procedure; and
- 6. Do everything reasonably possible to make its services available to everyone.
These targets are monitored by corporate affairs within the Department.