Recommendation 13

In May 2023, the Department published the evaluation strategy for the Programme.24 The evaluation strategy includes nine key performance indicators, which focus more on the performance of the service the Department is building rather than the outcomes for claimants. The NAO found that the Department was still working out what metrics it will use and what data it needs to monitor the transformation of the service as a whole. We therefore asked the Department whether its performance indicators were fit for purpose. The Department asserted that it wanted to be “very open” about its approach to evaluation and the key performance indicators it was seeking to use, and that there were two elements it was considering as part of this – the first where it did not yet have the data it needed, and the second where it had the data but needed to be clear about which metrics it would use and monitor. It explained that, of the nine key performance areas, there was one, covering “customer query resolved at first contact”, where it had not yet identified what data it needed to monitor this. The Department explained that it had “not yet resolved exactly where that data is coming from and how draw that together” and that it thought that “we have time, but this is something we know that we need to do”. The Department said it will update the business case in spring 2024.25 In order that the Department’s progress can be more accurately monitored, we would expect the business case to be included in the baseline assessments for its 47 key performance indicators.