21st Century Services Programme Executive Summary
The 21st Century Services Programme addressed change in the way public services are delivered in the North East - change in the expectation of service users, customers, citizens, and change in the approaches services themselves can and should take.
Whilst services have always evolved, there has been a near revolutionary potential over the last few years to the way information can flow between services deliverers, commissioners and service users. The potential for ubiquitous access to information - the internet, mobile communications, and wireless technology - has been a reality for years rather than months now. On first acquaintance this information revolution offers attractive benefits - quicker turn around of service requests, better management information and satisfied customers.
And yet, perhaps because of the bewildering range of new opportunities that technological change has made available, perhaps because of a cautious approach to recognising their full potential, and perhaps because public services struggle to understand who their customers are or what they really want, revolutionary potential remains just that.
The Programme set itself a number of objectives:
| Objective | Measured Improvement |
|---|---|
| Better use of customer insight to help target services around the needs of individuals | Accumulated achievement of LAA targets |
| Better use of customer insight to create knowledge about communities to prioritise scarce resources | Accumulated efficiencies Individual CAA performance in localities |
| Improvements to the overall experience of customers in accessing services in a consistent and joined up manner | Customer satisfaction surveys National Indicator 14 (avoidable contact) |
| Efficiencies in the controlled impact of migration to more cost effective channels | Cost to serve Channel cost analysis |
Better quality information to inform more efficient service decisions, performance management and accurate delivery to service users |
Data quality Accumulated achievement of LAA targets |
The Programme's most significant learning point was that customer insight, the deep knowledge about customers (or citizens) is not uniformly available to local authorities and fire and rescue services. Without this deep knowledge the Programme could only go part way to suggesting appropriate solutions to creating fit for purpose access to services.
With this is mind, the focus of the programme was to encourage the partners to fast-track their use of insight and increase their awareness of insight in service design. To complement this focus on customer expectation work was also done in helping partners plan for change in access to services.
Survey work early in the programme identified other areas where better quality information were important. A report on the value of good information governance recommended a number of projects which were not pursued due to budget constraints.
The identification of additional capital resources mid way through the programme allowed two more themes to be pursued. The changing nature of the workplace was addressed through three projects concerning agile and mobile working. Secondly, a service redesign exercise for the management of the blue badges scheme for disabled car users was undertaken, resulting in a potential shared service for the region. In both cases the application of new technologies coupled with a better understanding of customer need and changes in working practice ensured these projects adhered to the principals of the 21st Century Services.