Every Executive Agency is subject to a thorough review, often on a 5 yearly basis. These Quinquennial Reviews are required to take a radical look at the Agency concerned. The first 2 questions to be addressed are whether the functions the Agency fulfils still need to be done at all; and if they do, do they still need to be done on Ministers' behalf by the public sector or could they be better performed by the private sector. As far as the Public Trust Office (PTO) of the Lord Chancellor's Department (LCD) is concerned, the answer to both those question was established very early on in this Review. The functions the PTO carries out are still essential and they do need to remain the responsibility of Ministers. They should therefore be discharged on Ministers' behalf by the public sector, which should be clearly accountable for them.
The third question to be addressed by a Quinquennial Review is the degree of potential for increasing the efficient and effective performance of the Agency's operations through more partnerships with other organisations, whether they be in the private, not-for-profit or public sector. This of course does not weaken the Agency's responsibility for the functions. Here, the Review of the PTO has found considerable scope for development even though quite a lot of its investment work is already carried out by the private financial sector.
A Review must then go on to assess the Agency's performance (in this case since July 1994) and make recommendation for further improvements. As a final stage in the process the Agency's Framework Document must be reviewed: it will be for the LCD to carry forward the necessary work for the PTO and this Review did not address it.
The PTO's Quinquennial Review has been carried out between mid-May 1999 and mid-October 1999. The Review team was lead by Miss Ann Chant CB (on secondment from the Department of Social Security), with Mrs Vivien Andrew (on secondment from the Lord Chancellor's Department) and Mrs Maureen Brown (a part-time Senior Personal Secretary). A large number of individuals and organisations have contributed to it and their details are shown in Annex 3. In addition, staff and managers at all levels in the PTO have taken part in discussion groups and helped to provide the necessary information.
Many of the ideas for improving the PTO's discharge of its responsibilities have come from these various sources, particularly the work done by the Comptroller and Auditor General and the Public Accounts Committee: the Review has just synthesised them. Similarly, much of the analysis of the PTO's difficulties has come from its own staff, who have clearly been aware and disappointed that they have not been able to consistently provide the standards of service to their clients and other stakeholders that they would wish. Many of the PTO's duties are the sort of unenviable public sector responsibilities that are extremely difficult to perform in ways that will please all parties concerned. The Review identified a large degree of commitment to their difficult task by the staff in this Agency, despite the fact that their work, by its very nature, is often extremely demanding.
Given the timescale and resources of this Review, it is inevitable that many of the issues have not been explored in great detail. Instead, proposals have been tested to the extent that the parties potentially concerned at senior level can see that they are attractive and they might be feasible and so are ready to take part in in-depth examination of them. Similarly, as robust data on operational or financial issues was sometimes not readily available from the PTO, this Review as a matter of policy did not commission special exercises to obtain it, other than in 2 or 3 instances. Instead, best estimates were used and judgement was exercised: both might prove wrong if different facts emerge during more detailed analysis. Notwithstanding these caveats, the Review's basic assessment, assumptions and proposals for change should hold true.
The Review Team is very grateful to all those individuals and organisations that helped it with its work, not least those who are not directly involved in the PTO's current activities but were willing to give their time to help improve an important and sensitive piece of public service that often involves vulnerable members of society and families in distressing circumstances. Hopefully, the Review's outcome will help ensure that all the responsibilities currently performed by the PTO will in future be delivered to consistently high standards on behalf of Ministers.
Ann Chant CB