Quality of public services Current issues and challenges

1. Quality of public servicesCurrent issues and challenges Beirut – 20 April 2011 Charles-Henri Montin Senior Regulatory Adviser Ministère de l’économie et des finances, Paris charles-henri.montin@finances.gouv.fr charles-henri@montin.comwww.smartregulation.net

2. Contents • Why improve quality of service • Strategies to develop quality • Legal or soft approach • How to justify • Voluntary commitment to quality • Service level agreements: example Charte Marianne • Introducing objectivity into quality assessment • CAF • Certification on the basis of standards (example: Label Marianne) • ISO 9001 • Opinion surveys • Rewarding successful quality initiatives • Other policies to foster quality of service • Management issues • Further reading (France) Beirut, 20April 2011

3. Why improve the quality of service in the administration • Provide value for money to the citizen, meeting expectations • Deliver rapidly good looking results directly experienced by the public • Deliver effectively on public missions • Bring about a cultural change in the way civil servants carry out their duties (client-orientation) including more effective user-consultation • Deliver policies efficiently: quality not necessarily more expensive in the long run, after initial investment • Australia: 1998 study shows quality can be pursued by simplifying procedures while reducing costs • France: quality goes hand in hand with budget control (RGPP 2011) in the same policy Beirut, 20April 2011

4. Strategies to develop quality of service • Three approaches to launch a policy quality • Compulsory implementation of tools and indicators (UK) • Obligation to introduce the quality approach, but freedom in the choice of tools (Australia, France) • No overall policy, but general commitment, leaving agencies to decide how to manage quality (Sweden) • How to assess the need/ justify for the quality drive • Open delivery of public service to competition (UK, 1990 “Next Steps” policy) to compare efficiency • Periodic evaluation and review of public service (Australia, “contestability”, Canada review of public services) ingrains the concept that public services must correspond to a need and efficiently address it; • Auto-evaluation or independent external review: especially necessary in a period of budget restraint: it works best when comparative results are published Beirut, 20April 2011

5. Example of voluntary service commitment (France) • Charte Marianne (2005) • a framework for administrative service to improve their communication with customers • Offers a variety of commitments covering all aspects of the interface: information, reception, correspondence, handling of cases, complaints procedure • Is an opportunity for self-scrutiny and improvement • Based on voluntary subscription to the commitments and their publication • Verification by “mystery users” • Very successful in France (2000 charters) Beirut, 20April 2011

6. Introducing objectivity • Certification (ISO 9000) has been adapted to use in public services • Common Assessment Framework (CAF) since 2000: European self-diagnostic tool to promote quality management in public services • Label Marianne (2007) • The Charter was not stringent enough for some; the verification showed that commitments were not always well fulfilled; • Need for a set of standards controlled by an independent authority and leading to the award of a label • The barometer of quality (2010 & 2011) focuses on the front-office: • Measurement of compliance with Charte Marianne commitments, regarding information and orientation of the visiting public, and the handling of cases (percentage of timely answers, • Quality as measured from the life-cycle: ten additional indicators representing the quality and timeliness of the administrative response on the basis of the 10 most frequently used procedures Beirut, 20April 2011

7. Using client feedback to direct quality of service efforts Quantitative survey Qualitative surveys Process analysis Simplification, improvement and modernisation objectives Proposals to improve service Priority life events Life events DGME 9/2010 Beirut, 20April 2011

8. The wider framework of quality Other approaches/ focus points for the quality effort • Output: Measure the output of the administrations to determine quality on an objective basis (beyond user-satisfaction) • Organization: Facilitate access to service by one-stop-shops • IT: harness the potential for enhanced communication online • Regulation: Simplify legal constraints that complicate matters and divert the administration from service delivery • Procedures: Streamline to reduce delays (example payment delays on public contracts) Beirut, 20April 2011

9. Rewarding results • Change of mindset and culture is best promoted by a suitable reward system to promote positive behavior and results • Trophées de la qualité (2003-2007 France) • A competition highlighting local success stories; some 100 projects in competition each year • A prize awarded by the minister with appropriate publicity on winners, including the International Quality Conference • An opportunity of stimulating innovativeness, sharing good practice, and mutualising innovative solutions Beirut, 20April 2011

10. Management issues • Quality of service should not be a separate policy, but a component of good public management • Need for an explicit recognition among the goals of reform/ change/ administrative modernization, allowing local initiative • Integrate quality objectives into the substantive policies and performance management • Need to identify resources and capacities, at interministerial level if appropriate to drive the policy • Obtain commitments on service levels, then monitor implementation, finally transform voluntary commitments into rules • Not necessarily costly except for IT solutions, but based on voluntary efforts (suitably encouraged and rewarded) and sharing good practice using international benchmarks. Beirut, 20April 2011

11. Further reading (France) • Early methodology in France: http://www.fonction-publique.gouv.fr/IMG/guidequaliteservice-2.pdf • The Cannac Report: http://www.ladocumentationfrancaise.fr/rapports-publics/044000357/index.shtml • Modernisation site: http://www.modernisation.gouv.fr/piliers/ameliorer/index.html • France Qualité Publique site: http://www.qualite-publique.org/ • Charte Marianne: • http://www.vie-publique.fr/actualite/alaune/services-publics-socle-commun-engagements.html • http://www.fonction-publique.gouv.fr/IMG/pdf/CharteMarianne_20050103.pdf • Label Marianne: http://www.hautes-pyrenees.pref.gouv.fr/publications/upload/11838/Communiqu%C3%A9%20Label%20Marianne_0.pdf • Trophées de la qualité: http://www.eipa.nl/caf/ConferenceActivities/FrenchTrophy/Reglement2006.pdf • Barometer second edition 10/3/2011: http://www.modernisation.gouv.fr/piliers/ameliorer/le-barometre-de-la-qualite-des-services/seconde-edition-du-barometre-de-la-qualite-des-services-publics/index.html Beirut, 20April 2011