Open All Hours? - People's Panel Call For More Accessible Public Services

People want key public services to be available into the evenings and at weekends according to research published today by Cabinet Office Minister, Ian McCartney. He said that work was now underway to develop plans for meeting that need.

Announcing the results of the fourth wave of People's Panel research, Mr McCartney reported that:

• almost half of those questioned would like to be able to contact public services at evenings and weekends;
• demand is highest for extended weekday opening hours, up to 8 pm or 10 pm, and during the day on Saturdays. Few people think that services, other than health services, need to be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week;
• the five services which people most want to contact during extended opening hours are: NHS hospitals (for non-emergencies), social services, doctor's surgeries, the Passport Agency and local councils;
• the main reason for extending opening hours would be to allow people to contact public services outside normal working hours or after children have gone to bed;
• a high proportion of people would like to be able to contact services by phone, although they would prefer to contact some public services such as the Passport Agency and Benefits Agency electronically.

Mr McCartney said:

"Opening public services to customers at times which are convenient to them, particularly evenings and weekends, is a significant improvement in service delivery. We used the People's Panel to find out what services people want available outside normal working hours; which they think are the most important; when they want to access them; and how.

"There is a clear demand for making some key services available outside standard working hours.

"We have already made a commitment that by the end of 2001, there will be extended opening of the five public services where the Panel found greatest demand (NHS hospitals, Social Services, GP's surgeries, the Passport Agency and some local council services). We are now consulting with government departments and agencies and with local government representatives to work out the best way of meeting the demand for extended opening hours, and produce an action plan for these changes by July.

"But this is just the start. The Government is committed to making public services widely available outside of normal working hours, where people want them.

"This is all part of our drive to provide services that are driven by the needs of their users, rather than those of the service providers".

Technical details

1. Full details of the results of the 4th wave of People's Panel research is available on the People's Panel web site at www.servicefirst.gov.uk
2. Six focus groups were held using members of the People's Panel to assess demand for making public services available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This was followed up with a quantitative survey of 1,000 Panel members to assess the extent of the demand.
3. The People's Panel consists of 5,000 members of the public who are representative of the UK population as a whole in terms of age, gender, regional distribution and a wide range of other demographic indicators.
4. The Panel provides a database of individuals that can be drawn on for consultation and qualitative or quantitative research. It can be used to track attitudes and opinions about public services and find out why these change. Researchers can also use the Panel to assess the views and attitudes of people who do not use particular services as well as those who do.
5. The research also revealed the increasing impact on public opinion of the Charter Mark quality scheme for public services. A third of panel members were aware of the scheme (a four point increase since Spring 1998) and the concept of an award for good public service performance is backed by 84% of respondents. Over a third of respondents think Charter Mark recipients provide a higher standard of service than other public services. Further information on Charter Mark is available on the Modernising Public Services web site at www.cabinet-office.gov.uk/servicefirst/index/markhome.htm
6. Examples of the services Panel members might like to access out of hours include:
   • information about job vacancies from the local job centre;
   • health advice from a doctor or nurse at their local surgery;
   • advice on completing forms or understanding documents from the Inland Revenue;
   • checking progress on a passport applications;
   • asking the local council to deal with a problem.
7. The Service Action Team action plan was published on 26 October 1999 and is available on the internet at: www.servicefirst.gov.uk/1999/joinedup/action.htm
8. Margaret Jay has recently been asked by the Prime Minister to take on a new role of co-ordinating work:life balance in the public sector. She is leading a group of Ministers who are consulting on the best way of meeting the demand for extended opening times and encouraging more flexible working hours in the public sector.

Download Open All Hours? - the summary of results [pdf format - 58K]

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