Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 9
9
Accepted
Department confident in financial savings, but wider programme success hinges on changing lives.
Recommendation
We asked the Department whether it was confident that it could deliver the benefits and savings expected from the Programme. The Department told us that it was confident that it could deliver the financial savings, as “the system costs a lot to deliver, so small improvement can save quite a lot of money”. But it recognised that the success of the programme depended on ‘the [wider] savings and benefits that come from changing people’s lives for good’, which was “not just supporting some of the most vulnerable people in our country to live independently, but helping and encouraging those who can to live an independent life, which involves some ability to work”.14 Developing the health assessment service
Government Response Summary
The government agrees and will update and publish the Health Transformation Programme business case by Spring 2024, committing to track programme benefits through data analysis and research, publish quarterly management information, and explore publication of evaluation findings.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Spring 2024 The Department for Work and Pensions (the department) is updating the Health Transformation Programme (HTP) business case, based on the approved Programme scope at November 2023. This business case is based on delivery of the HTP in line with the current programme plan, as well as the costs and benefits of the transformed Personal Independence Payments (PIP) end-to-end journey, including Apply for PIP. The Programme’s benefits, as outlined in the business case, will be tracked by the department using a combination of administrative data analysis, and both qualitative and quantitative research, as set out in the Programme’s Evaluation Strategy (published in May 2023). The department will publish a summary of the business case following the receipt of the necessary internal and cross-government clearances, which the department expects to receive by Spring 2024. The department will also publish a summary of its Accounting Officer Assessment alongside this. The government disagrees with the Committee’s recommendation. The government agrees with the premise of transparency; the department will publish information once available and sufficiently robust. The Programme is in its early stages and is currently creating the right environment to transform services. As set out in the HTP Evaluation Strategy (May 2023), the department will refine its performance measurement approach as the Programme matures. This will include defining and tracking outcome indicators incorporating benefits to claimants. In line with Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) Code of Practice for Statistics, the department has started to publish management information (MI) and will continue to develop plans for publishing metrics. On 19 December 2023, the department published the first in a new series of HTP MI. Publication of this MI will continue quarterly in line with the PIP Official Statistics release schedule. As the Programme and underlying data systems mature, the department will evolve this publication to report against the nine key performance indicators (KPIs) and underlying performance metrics. The department will consider the value of publishing annual progress reports in addition to these quarterly statistics. As set out in the HTP Evaluation Strategy, the department is evaluating services as they develop and iterate. This includes conducting research with claimants to understand their experiences of new services. This approach ensures that scaling of these services occurs safely and that services can iterate accordingly. The department will explore publication of evaluation findings, in accordance with Government Social Research protocols, when appropriate to do so.