HISTORIC PRESS RELEASE : Byers gives further details of Public Service Agreements [December 1998]

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 9 November 1998.

Further details of the Public Service Agreements being entered into by each Government Department will be announced by Chief Secretary Stephen Byers later today.

Mr Byers will explain for the first time that each Agreement, to be published together in December, will contain an efficiency statement detailing specific efficiency targets and demonstrating how  each Department will improve its own productivity.

The efficiency statement will include substantive information on progress and plans in three key areas which will contribute to the overall effectiveness of the public services:-

• dealing with fraud against the taxpayer;
• better procurement practice;
•  reducing sickness absence amongst public employees.

Stephen Byers said:

“Public Service Agreements will be ground breaking documents. We have already said that they will include clear performance targets.  But we need to go further and ensure that we achieve value for money for every pound of taxpayers’ money spent. High quality public services and greater efficiency go hand in hand.

“Last Tuesday the Chancellor announced targets to cut down on public sector absenteeism. Each Government Department is now carrying out an audit of its own procedures, recognising the large variation in absence levels.

“Dealing with fraud has to be a key responsibility for each Department, and I want every Department to have a clear and effective strategy for tackling fraud. Every pound saved is a pound more for front-line public services. The Government is also a major purchaser of goods and services, and we should use our position to achieve savings for the public purse.”

Average Working Days Absence per Staff-Year by Civil Service Department, 1996

NOTES TO EDITORS

The attached table gives details of absences in major Civil Service Departments in 1996.

The Comprehensive Spending Review, published in July 1998, announced that each Government Department would agree a Public Service Agreement. The Agreement will include each Department’s objectives and measurable efficiency and effectiveness targets. Progress will be monitored by a continuous process of scrutiny and audit, overseen by a Cabinet committee  chaired by the Chancellor. The Committee will be advised by a Public Services Productivity Panel, drawn from business and the public sector, on ways of improving the productivity of public services and announced by the Chancellor in the Pre-Budget Report.

The Government has commissioned a review, announced in the Pre- Budget Report and to be led by Peter Gershon of GEC-Marconi, which will examine current arrangements for civil procurement and recommend any changes that would support the Government’s efficiency, modernisation and competitiveness objectives.

Data covers major departments (and their agencies) of 5,000 staff and over, plus the Cabinet Office and Treasury.  These account for 91% of all non-industrial civil service employees.

Source: Analysis of Sickness Absence in the Civil Service, 1996, BMI Health Services.