NAO to help government meet service targets
National Audit Office validation of departmental targets will help promote service delivery, chief treasury secretary Paul Boateng has claimed in the Commons.
Link: Public spending agreements face scrutiny
He said the NAO is conducting a pilot study of systems used in reporting on public service agreements and will move to full implementation in April.
Boateng claimed the targets ‘represent a major reform in public administration’ and stressed, in Commons exchanges, ‘their importance in focusing departments on delivery’.
Responding to a question from Tory MP Peter Bottomley, he said there were technical challenges in relation to data collection and promised ‘customer satisfaction’ would be taken into account in measuring outcomes.
Bottomley demanded the NAO survey passengers, pupils, parents and the police.
He said patients who received letters postponing appointments for which they have already waited a year would need convincing the new system was working.