29 June 2007
Public bodies must slash the time it takes to provide services if the government is to become more responsive to citizens' needs, a minister admitted this week.
Cabinet Office minister Pat McFadden called on central and local government bodies, as well as external providers, to reassess the way they deliver services so that people are not subjected to infuriating delays in benefit payments or long, often painful, waits for NHS treatments.
In a speech on the time dimension to public provision, McFadden criticised some services for inappropriate demands placed on citizens. He acknowledged that a chasm could develop between provision to wealthy, non-manual workers and those in blue-collar jobs or claiming benefits.
McFadden attacked government call centres, for example, for taking too long to answer enquiries – slowing the provision of welfare services, often to a halt. A report by MPs recently revealed that 21 million enquiries to Department for Work and Pensions call centres went unanswered in 2005/06.
'People in office-based jobs with easy access to the internet or the phone can [make enquiries] within our working hours. But you can't do that if you work on a supermarket checkout or in a factory: you have to do these things in your lunch hour or after your shift, so you need the services to work effectively.
'This is not just an issue for the cash-rich population – this is an issue for people that may not be working at all and who are dealing with the state in many ways,' McFadden said.
While the extension of choice and contestability had helped to reduce impositions on the public's time – particularly in the health sector – the provision of choice was not always the best approach and must be used selectively, McFadden added.
'Generally speaking, choice is empowering. If we get the NHS “choose and book” [appointments] system right, then it won't take patients long to better organise health services around themselves and reduce waiting times.
'But if you give people a range of choices, then having the right information available to them is a key part of making it work effectively. We should have choice available where appropriate, but we should also take seriously time considerations where choice is not appropriate.'
McFadden made no mention of public dissatisfaction with Britain's transport network during his speech – yet evidence suggests that delays and long commute times are among the public's biggest bugbears.
He later acknowledged to Public Finance that transport remains an important social exclusion issue, because improved commuting times can boost regional productivity and employment.
'The government has invested a lot in transport in recent years, but I'm sure there's more we can do. Travel to work times are an issue: its part of any modernisation agenda that values time and we should take that seriously.'
PFjun2007
