Annex 11: Terms of Reference for PSI Working Groups on Better Services
The Better Services aspect of PSI will identify, prioritise and tackle factors which relate to the organisation and delivery of services and which make it difficult for those most in need to access them. It will focus primarily on pubic sector services, but where necessary will turn its attentions to essential services provided by the private or voluntary sectors.
A scoping study will identify and prioritise issues to be tackled within a 3 year timescale. One issue will be tackled at a time and a separate PSI Working Group will be set up for each.
Each Working Group will:
- use available
evidence and the advice of experts to analyse the problems
- identify
and evaluate options for the way forward (this may include examining
examples of good practice or developing innovative solutions)
- develop
an integrated strategy of policy and action to be implemented jointly
or by individual service providers
- identify
mechanisms for monitoring, evaluating and reporting on progress in the
implementation of its recommendations
- present conclusions to SSG and Ministers in the form of documents intended for publication
Better Communication
It has been agreed that the first area to be addressed will be the ways in which service providers communicate with the public. This includes for example the communication of information to promote better health or about entitlement to services; the forms through which agencies gather information from service users and the letters they write to members of the public. The aim will be to identify better ways of communicating and to promote their implementation by the public sector and more widely.
The Working Group will:
- examine
the difficulties people experience in obtaining, interpreting and responding
to communications, focusing particularly on the problems experienced
by people in greatest social need and those with additional communication
needs for example because they have difficulty communicating in English,
or with reading, writing or understanding text
- consider
the effects of the use of technology on communication between service
providers and the public
- consider
the extent to which the contents, presentation and distribution of information
can be improved to make it more accessible.
- examine difficulties members of the public, particularly more vulnerable people, experience in attempting to contact providers of essential services to obtain information or assistance, and identify practical steps service providers can take to make themselves more accessible to the public.
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