DWP Autumn Performance Report 2005: Progress against Public Service Agreement targets
The Department for Work and Pensions' aim and objectives
The Department for Work and Pensions exists to deliver the Government’s welfare reform agenda through a radical and far-reaching programme of change. Its principal aim is to promote opportunity and independence for all.
The Government’s vision of the future welfare state is shaped by these core principles:
- Help people to help themselves by offering a ladder to self-reliance and self-determination, not merely a safety net in time of need.
- See work as the best route out of welfare.
- Promote understanding and enable people to make informed choices for themselves.
- Balance rights with responsibilities, while recognising the need for support and care where appropriate.
- Recognise our mutual interdependence and obligation to each other, promoting solidarity between generations, and the importance of using the resources of Government to help people cope with rapid economic and social change.
- Ensure the role of the state is active, liberating and enabling.
- Address the root causes of poverty and overcome intergenerational disadvantage and exclusion.
- Contribute to a stable and growing economy through investment in the potential of every individual, and flexibility of support in and out of work.
Similarly, the Department’s principal aim is supported by a number of strategic objectives:
- to ensure the best start for all children and end child poverty by 2020;
- to promote work as the best form of welfare for people of working age , while protecting the position of those in greatest need [1];
- to combat poverty and promote security and independence in retirement for today’s and tomorrow’s pensioners;
- to improve rights and opportunities for disabled people in a fair and inclusive society; and
- ensure customers receive a high quality service, including high levels of accuracy.
These objectives are underpinned by the Department’s Public Service Agreement (PSA) which sets out the specific targets that must be met in return for the resources provided through the Government’s Spending Review.
Spending plans for the financial years 2005–06 to 2007–08 were agreed as part of the 2004 Spending Review settlement, as set out in the White Paper: Stability, security and opportunity for all: Investing for Britain’s long-term future (Cm 6237, July 2004). These PSA targets came into effect from April 2005.
This report also includes an assessment of PSA targets for the 2003–04 to 2005–06 years which have not been rolled forward into the 2004 Spending Review agreement. These targets were published in the 2002 Spending Review White Paper: Opportunity and Security for All: Investing in an enterprising, fairer Britain (Cm 5570, July 2002). Figure 1 shows how the Spending Review 2004 (SR2004) targets have evolved from the Spending Review (SR2002) ones.
The purpose of this Autumn Performance Report is to provide information for the period up to November 2005 on the progress the Department has made towards all current PSA targets and the efficiency challenge initially announced in the 2004 Budget statement and specific targets set in SR2004.
It includes:
- PSA targets for the period up to March 2008;
- latest outturn on outstanding targets;
- details of how performance is measured and an assessment of data quality; and
- an up-to-date assessment on performance against the efficiency challenge.
This report is intended to complement the Department’s Resource Accounts for 2004-05 which are expected to be published shortly. It also supplements the DWP Departmental Report (Cm 6539, June 2005) - which provides a comprehensive account of the Department’s activities and spending plans. Specifically, this Autumn Performance Report focuses on reporting baseline information for the Spending Review 2004 targets and assessments of progress against SR2002 and other outstanding targets.