Public sector performance: Efficiency or quality

The 2005 general election campaign in the UK has emphasised the importance placed on public services. There has been considerable debate over the delivery of public services and the performance of the public sector organisations that deliver them. However much of this debate has been based on performance information reported in performance league tables and performance targets against which public sector organisations are assessed. These targets and league tables, which are regularly debated by politicians and the media, are often criticised. Analysis of three recent reports regarding the measurement and reporting of the performance of public service delivery (The Gershon Review1; The Office of National Statistics Report “Public Service Productivity: Health”2 and The Atkinson Review3) suggest that published performance information causes problems when debating the performance of public service delivery. Specifically they highlight the following major problems:- The focus of performance measures and targets is primarily on efficiency rather than outputs and quality of public services;- The methodologies of calculating performance measures are often flawed and this limitation is mostly ignored when performance is reported;- Most performance information is delivered to the public through the filter of the media – very few members of the public review the performance information directly