Panel Call For Public Services To Be More Responsive
Minister For The Cabinet Office Announces Second Wave Research Results From The People's Panel
Minister for the Cabinet Office, Dr Jack Cunningham, today published the results of the second wave of research by the People's Panel.
Dr Cunningham said:
"I am publishing today the second wave of results from the research carried out using the People's Panel. The Panel has been established to seek people's views on improving public services. It is a unique development, and will play an important part in shaping the Modernising Government White Paper which I plan to publish at Easter."
The second wave of results from the Panel looks in more depth at some of the areas covered by the first wave of results, announced on 29 October last year. Key findings from the second wave include the following:
- there is significant support for local services becoming more directly responsive, through referenda, local mayors, etc;
- the balance of opinion is critical of care in the community. It is credited with re-integrating people into local communities, but seen as not giving them the level of care they need;
- most panel members think that public services are better at listening to complaints than they were a few years ago. But we still need to do more work, as three-quarters of people still think that a lot of determination is needed to get something done about a complaint;
- reliability and frequency of service are seen as the two most important areas for improving local bus services, and reliability as the most important area for improving train services - other key areas are cost and frequency of service;
- several possible means of raising revenue for public transport were put to Panel members but non received majority support. There was interest in a range of options: greatest support for generating investment was by cutting spending on new roads.
The results from each wave of research will inform decisions on the delivery of public services. In the case of the first wave, when the research was being carried out, the Government was already addressing a number of the issues raised. For example:
- seven in ten of Panel members said that public services were underfunded. The Chancellor, Gordon Brown, announced in September that &#pound;40 billion of new money was being made available for schools and hospitals;
- only 9% of Panel members said that public services were open. The Home Office is taking action, by means of the new Freedom of Information Bill, to make access to information held by Government and its Agencies much simpler and easier to obtain;
- train companies and London Underground came out bottom of the league for keeping people informed about their services. The Cabinet Office and the Central Rail Users' Consultative Committee have worked with the Office of Passenger Rail franchising on new guidance to train operators on drawing up passenger's charters;
- London Underground's quality of service targets are currently being revised and should be finalised soon. London transport is addressing the need for improved information about its services through a comprehensive campaign of information, under the banner "Tube 2000".
Future planned use of the People's Panel includes:
- experiences of using public services, to inform the Modernising Government White Paper (Cabinet Office)
- identifying issues that are important to women (Cabinet Office)
- testing the added value of school league tables (DfEE)
- attitudes towards biosciences (Office of Science and Technology)
- a third wave of quantitative research in the spring (Government-wide).
The Cabinet Office has produced a summary of findings, which highlights the main points of interest from the first wave. Copies are available from Cabinet Office Press Office and the Service First Publications Line (0345-22 32 42).
Cabinet Office press notices are available on the World Wide Web at http://www.nds.coi.gov.uk/coi/coipress.nsf
Download the full topline of the People's Panel part B [pdf format - 58K]
