MPs urge Blair to change culture of targets

Tony Blair should overhaul the Government's culture of target setting because it demoralises staff, distorts priorities and can damage standards, an MPs' report will say this week.

The report by the Commons Public Administration Committee criticises ministers for establishing a "measurement culture" in Whitehall with many "top-down" targets set by central Government. In some cases public servants allegedly work harder to meet performance targets than to improve services.

The MPs doubt that target setting has produced "a clear sense of direction and ambition for our public services", and say targets may "subvert" the relationship between Government and public services, by giving priority to targets over wider policy goals.

The report cites evidence that ambulance response time targets are jeopardising care standards, and of cheating in the NHS, with some ambulance trusts guilty of "near-corrupt" practices and "creative accounting" in some accident and emergency departments. The MPs warn that targets for outpatient appointments may harm patients by making them wait for crucial treatment.

Senior figures in the public services are still too negative, the report says, warning that "central departments often do not understand what life is like for those delivering services."

The report will reopen the bitter row over the Government's targets. Michael Howard, the shadow Chancellor, has used the network of targets stretching across Whitehall to accuse ministers of "micro-managing" public services and to allege that the Government has not delivered on public services.

Frontline staff must have a greater say in setting and monitoring local targets and customer satisfaction should outweigh crude performance measures, the report says.

It calls for the National Audit Office to have a key role in signing off performance measures and calls for proposals to reform the targets system before the Treasury's next comprehensive spending review in 2004.

The Treasury currently sets 130 central government targets every two years, but critics say the true number is many times that. The committee heard bitter criticism of the target setting culture in its nine-month inquiry.

Earlier this month, Patricia Hewitt, the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, said Labour "may have too many targets", while Tony Blair admitted the Government's "managerial" style had turned off voters.