To ask the Minister for the Civil Service if he will make a statement about the progress of the "next steps" initiative.

The "next steps" initiative which my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister launched in February 1988 continues to go well, and is starting to deliver results.There will be 30 agencies established by the end of this week, covering some 66,000 people. We expect more to be set up by the summer, taking the total involved to some 80,000. A list of agencies and announced candidates is set out in the table and work continues in many other areas of Government. By the end of 1991 we expect that "next steps" will have been applied to at least half the civil service.The establishment of agencies is only the first step. The aim of "next steps" is to deliver greater efficiency and better service to the public. Achieving one at the expense of the other is not good enough. Demanding performance targets, financial and non-financial, are being set, and will be refined and improved as experience is gained, and further freedoms and flexibilities and delegations are given.Results from the early agencies are promising. Each agency will publish annually a report and accounts which amongst other things will set out what is looked for and what is achieved. To help the House and the public see what is happening, we propose to publish annually, starting later this year, a general report on the initiative overall including summaries of developments and results in individual agencies.The "next steps" initiative although directed in the first place at activities within the civil service is of broad application and its benefits should be sought more widely within the public sector. Accordingly the Government have decided that these disciplines should be applied to non-departmental public bodies which have executive functions, where this is appropriate and where this is likely to improve their performance. I am announcing more details about this separately.Overall, "next steps" is showing its worth in the delivery of improved performance and better service to the public. The Government will continue to press this important initiative forward with energy and urgency.

To ask the Minister for the Civil Service what progress he has made with the creation of executive agencies within his Department.

In addition to the civil service college, which became an agency in June 1989, I am happy to announce that I have today launched the civil service occupational health service (the OHS) as an executive agency.The occupational health service was set up in 1986 to implement the recommendations of a scrutiny by the Prime Minister's efficiency unit. Its job is to promote the health and safety of civil servants at work. Government Departments, like other employers, have to prevent or deal with the distinctive health problems which affect their staff by reason of their work or workplace, not only to meet their legal obligations but to reap the benefits of a fit, productive and well-motivated organisation. And large employers are increasingly finding it best to do so by means of their own dedicated health service.The occupational health service has a key role to play in supporting management in Government Departments and in executive agencies. It provides expert advice on the statutory responsibilities of employers and on all aspects of occupational health, from recruitment to retirement. And it offers a complete range of supporting services like medical examinations, training in first aid, in the handling of hazardous substances and in the implications of legal changes; and tailor-made information and advice for civil servants working abroad.This relatively new service has already risen to the challenge of change, and is admirably fitted to perform even better an executive agency. It carries out well-defined executive functions; it recovers its full costs from charges to customer departments, which may obtain services elsewhere where they see this as providing better value for money; and it is responsive to customer demand, designing new services as required to meet changing priorities on the job.The OHS has a framework document which is designed to enhance its status, to sharpen its objectives, to encourage its customer-orientation, and to give its staff the incentives and the tools to go from strength to strength in improving the quality and efficiency of the service they provide.The OHS framework document identifies two key indicators by which the performance of the organisation will be monitored. These are the cost per productive professional day (that is the fully loaded cost of the time of its professional staff) and the unit cost of advising on cases referred to the OHS for advice on sickness absence and the health of potential recruits to the civil service. The OHS is also committed to devising an indicator by which the quality of its services can be monitored in future.Copies of the OHS framework document have today been placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

To ask the Minister for the Civil Service what action the Government are taking to apply the "next steps" approach to non-departmental public bodies.

The Government have drawn up a programme of action for the selective application of the "next steps" approach to executive non-departmental public bodies. This will extend the benefits of "next steps" more widely within the public sector. It continues to be Government policy that new NDPBs will not be set up unless it can be demonstrated that creating a new public body is the most appropriate and cost-effective solution to the task in hand. When a new body is set up, it is important to ensure it starts off on the soundest possible managerial footing.Sponsoring Departments will in future prepare a management statement, broadly on the lines of a "next steps" framework document, for all new executive NDPBs. The overall aim will be to delegate responsibility to the maximum extent practicable to the body, within an agreed framework which unambiguously sets out the relationship between each body and its sponsoring Department. The approach is designed to improve managerial responsibility for performance and the delivery of results, to improve service to the public, and to enhance accountability.A similar approach will be applied selectively over a period to existing bodies. Departments and NDPBs have already put a great deal of effort into improving management arrangements. The existing system of comprehensively reviewing each NDPB at least every five years gives Departments the opportunity to consider which NDPBs will most benefit from the early preparation of a management statement, building on what is already in place, and taking account of the statute which sets the framework for each NDPB's relationship with its sponsoring Department. Details are set out in a note prepared by Cabinet Office (Office of the Minister for the Civil Service) and the Treasury. I am placing a copy in the Library of the House.