Civil Service in the news

The challenges of delivering public services

National School of Government conference explores the challenges of delivering public services through cross-departmental Public Service Agreements.

How is it possible to successfully deliver public services through cross-departmental Public Service Agreements (PSAs)? That’s what civil servants from across the country came together to discuss at the conference ‘The challenge of delivery: cross-departmental PSAs’ at the QEII Conference Centre, London.

Public Service Agreements set out the key public service outcomes the Government wants to achieve in the next spending period (2008-2011) – for example, higher educational standards or reduced carbon emissions. The 30 PSAs aim to address key challenges facing the UK, from increased life expectancy and rapid technological diffusion to growing pressures on natural resources and the global climate.

Each PSA is underpinned by a single ‘Delivery Agreement’, to embed cross-governmental collaboration and empower the delivery chain and frontline, and a number of performance indicators and targets to measure progress.

Roy Shostak, Head of Prime Minister’s Delivery Unit and Director General of Performance at the Treasury, talked to the audience of why it was essential to keep service users at the centre of any discussion about PSA targets. The aim must be to bring, ‘excellent personal experiences for all, and value for money for the taxpayer.’

Roy explained how there has been ‘a shift in including users in creating frameworks’, putting them and frontline professionals at the centre. The emphasis is firmly on shaping public services around the citizen, particularly through ‘skilling and empowering frontline workers’.

Avoiding dangerous climate change – PSA 27

Jonathan Brearley, the Director of the Office of Climate Change (OCC), then took to the stage to talk about one of the most cross-cutting PSAs, number 27, which sets out how the UK should ‘lead the global effort to avoid dangerous climate change’.

Of climate change, Jonathan said that, ‘it’s something we’ve got to tackle it now. The challenge is enormous… The science is clear: man made emissions is driving climate change.’ He put forward that if we don’t change our behaviour there’s a 50% chance we’ll see a rise in global temperature of 5°C by the end of the century – the same change in temperature as occurred between the last Ice Age and now. This would bring a massive change in resources and population and, highly likely, great conflict.

He explained how the UK’s long history of being at the forefront of climate change science and policy debate is under threat as other countries take a lead. Therefore, the two main climate change objectives are

• Most importantly, a global agreement ‘that, collectively across the world, we’re going to reduce emissions’ – by looking at the carbon market, tackling deforestation, and adaptation, and
• UK action – demonstrating that we’re leading by example.

Climate change is a hugely challenging issue. ‘At least seven departments have significant climate change levers,’ Jonathan said. ‘This is not something that one department can own.’ Change requires of departments both ‘a shared understanding and commitment to quality’ and ‘openness to explain what you’re doing and listen to others’.

Every child matters – PSAs 9–14 and 22

Anne Jackson is the Director for Child Wellbeing at the Department for Children, Schools and Families and is tasked with improving children’s health and wellbeing through ‘Every Child Matters’ reforms, which stemmed from the Victoria Climbié tragedy. Anne outlined to the audience how the ‘Every Child Matters’ green paper called for a better integration and responsiveness of child-centred public services.

There are a range of indicators for these PSAs. Health indicators, for example, include take-up of school lunches, obesity levels of under-11s, emotional wellbeing and mental health, and services for disabled children.

Progress to date includes creating a vision that is supported by frontline practitioners and local leaders and ‘a national framework for local delivery’. Anne said, ‘Schools are central to many of our plans. Schools have a core mission around education…but they’ve also got a social dimension, and we’ve been looking at building that up.’

Anne also believes that these cross-cutting PSAs have brought a greater focus to the efforts to improve child health and wellbeing: ‘The sense of common purpose is becoming much more widespread across the government.’

Planning ahead

Yvette Cooper MP, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, then took to the podium to give an overview of the Government's vision for PSAs, saying, ‘This is ultimately about changing society…delivering what people want in a better way.’ She put forward that the new phase of public service reform needs greater local responsibility and more collaborative working – both across departments and at a local level.

Yvette asked the delegates to consider how best to bring this change: ‘How do you institutionalise long-term improvements? How do you get that local innovation, and spread that best practice – not simply department led, but locally led?’ She believes the answer is through PSAs that put the users of public services at their centre.

The global credit crunch means ‘it's vital the money we put into public services is effective.’ However, she cautioned that we must look further than the short term in accessing success: ‘Lots of the results of things we're trying to do may only be felt in ten years' time.’