|

Search

National School of Government

Feedback

• Request email bulletins
• Website feedback

How effective are targets in improving the delivery of public services?

The Public Administration Select Committee published a report on 22 July 2003 (On target: Government by measurement) which examines the 'current policy of Government by measurement'.

The Committee compiled evidence which suggests that targets and tables can hamper service delivery. Too many targets are top-down and fail to engender any ownership from front-line staff. The Committee also identified cases where 'delivering on targets seemed to have become more important than delivering on services'. The Committee also found that too many targets are set without any consideration of how they are going to be measured

Key recommendations include the following:-

• More involvement in the process of setting targets by those directly involved in delivering services
• A shift of emphasis from 'absolute targets' to 'measures of progress in performance'
• the Government publish an Annual Performance Report on its overall performance that sets out how it has performed against each of its PSA targets

The full report and accompanying volume of appendices can be viewed on the Parliament website.