Sir, – May I suggest to Eddie Molloy in his account and analysis of his two important aspects of public service delivery that he make one small but vital change to the heading of his article “Shortfall in public service delivery is threat to future”, Opinion & Analysis, April 10th); change “future” to “now?” Why? Because the threat is not a future threat, we’ve got to deal with the here and now. Yes, key performance objectives plus plugging technical weakness and competence go to make up a coherent structure of any business whether public or private. But there are more important and fundamental issues to tackle before we get to deciding the key performance indicators (the how, when, who, and at what cost we deliver those services).
First-time, on-time delivery of a service, whether health, education or social care in the public arena, is at the heart of a proper understanding of what it is to be a successful civil servant but sadly the problem of actual delivery is and has been with us since the foundation of the State.
Failure to understand the customer seeking help from a local government office on a wet Monday morning lies at the heart of Civil Service life and that’s come about through the idea that process is important, that having an efficient department is what counts, whereas what matters are outcomes; eg making sure the office is open for the advertised and publicly stated office hours when someone has travelled a long way on the bus with two small children, gets off and walks in the rain for 20 minutes to the local office only to find it closed.
Administration has always been and remains a question of character; it has nothing to do with intelligence. Wrestling with the problem until it’s solved – that’s what it takes to get things done, completed and sorted out, not to that official’s satisfaction but to the complete satisfaction of their customer.
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Leadership by senior officials, training their staff to understand what it is to be a recipient of a government service, and who is the Civil Service’s customer, that’s the front, centre and middle of what every official in every government department in the country should first see on their screens when they log on each morning.
And let’s be frank; even in the private sector it’s really difficult to achieve. But it can be done; pockets of excellence are out there. But generally in the public sector overall, sadly no. The Civil Service is inward looking, too comfortable and lacks energy. It needs a mighty refresh. A smaller service, better paid, and with up-to-date information technology and better recruitment of those with top-rate skillsets and a clear understanding of what their job is: to help the customer get the help they need when they get off that bus. – Yours, etc,
ALASTAIR CONAN,
Coulsdon,
London.
