Measuring the Performance of Government Departments

This report follows our March 2000 report on "Good Practice in Performance
Reporting by Executive Agencies and Non-Departmental Public Bodies". It
extends our coverage of performance measurement issues to Departments by
taking an interim look at the progress they are making in measuring their
performance, and in particular their outcomes. We surveyed the 17 main
Departments and interviewed those involved in a number of cross-cutting areas
to identify the challenges they face together with some of the solutions they
have adopted. The report covers the selection and design of performance
measures; the links between Public Service Agreements and targets for service
providers; and the identification of appropriate sources of data to support
measures and the reporting of outturn against target. This summary outlines the
main good practices we identified and is supported by a list of key questions
that Departments may wish to consider when they develop and implement
their Public Service Agreement targets (see Annex 1, page 10).