CHARITY COMMISSION

SERVICE DELIVERY AGREEMENT 2001-04

C Improving performance

C1 Strategies for improving performance

All performance improvement projects are specified in the department’s business plan and are monitored quarterly. The key priorities of the Commission’s improvement programme include:

• the introduction of a new pay and appraisal system to support the departmental performance management system;

• a review of the wider application of the Business Excellence Model, including external benchmarking, within the department by June 2001 with a view to establishing a corporate implementation plan by the end of 2001. The Model is being trialled by the procurement division.

• all divisions of the department will have been reviewed under the Better Quality Services (BQS) Programme by March 2004, reinforcing our commitment to BQS.

• a new comprehensive management development plan to provide stronger leadership.

• track targets from SR settlement through developing by April 2002 a single unit cost measure to reflect efficiency gains made by the department, with a partial figure in the interim.

C2 Value for money targets

Currently the Commission calculates unit staff costs for all its major operational activities. It is planning to develop these further to produce unit costs based on full resource accounting, and to integrate them into a single departmental unit cost over the period of this agreement. Both the existing and developed unit costs will be used to monitor efficiency gains, and, for the period, an overall target of 7% in real terms is sought as an efficiency gain in our delivery of measured outputs.

C3 Variations in performance

As part of a programme for identifying variations in performance the department will continue to benchmark the performance of its three locations against each other on a monthly basis through its Operational Management Group. It will also use its Better Quality Services (BQS) initiative to measure its ability to achieve continuous improvement. Because there are no similar organisations to the Commission, the BQS programme will undertake external benchmarking on its activities on an individual basis.

C4 Procurement

The Commission has established a centralised procurement function and a thorough review into purchasing, acquisition, and contract support has been undertaken, the results of which will be implemented by March 2001. Opportunities for collaboration with other departments are also being reviewed by the same date.

C5 Fraud

The Commission’s internal fraud policy comprises a number of strands. The Appropriation Accounts are supported by a Statement of Financial Control to reflect the recommendations of the Turnbull Committee, and are audited by external auditors, the National Audit Office. An Audit Plan is prepared each year by the Commission’s internal auditors and monitored by the Audit Committee. A fraud return is submitted to HM Treasury each year as required. In addition to this, activities which may lead to disciplinary action are clearly laid out in the Employment Handbook, copies of which are available to all staff.