OECD Review of the Irish Public Service: The gap between policy and service provision
This Submission draws on evidence from Citizens Information Services (CISs) to illustrate the gap between policy and actual service provision across a wide range of public services. Queries from the 700,000 callers to CISs and the Citizens Information Phone Service cover a wide range of areas of living, including social welfare entitlements, employment rights, housing, health, education, taxation, consumer affairs, immigration and legal matters. Social Welfare is the most common subject of enquiry to CISs (comprising one-third of all queries). Health services and employment rights also feature prominently and there are significant numbers of queries relating to other public services. As might be expected, there is a growing number of queries from foreign nationals.
Despite the sustained improvements in the way in which public bodies deliver information and services to customers, and the various principles and protocols for improved service delivery introduced during the last decade, feedback from CISs/CIPS raises basic questions about how the service delivery and benefits system deals with individual complex situations where existing provision falls short.
There is a tendency to create 'provider-centred' definitions of need according to which people whose needs are not met by a given provider or do not come within its functional responsibility are outside its line of vision. It may be the case that when service providers come across cases for which they have nothing to offer, there may be an implicit assumption that a person's needs will be met elsewhere, by another agency or through some other entitlement. While this is sometimes the case, it is not always so. Also, a person may frequently require the co-ordination of several elements to meet a particular service need.
Difficulties in accessing public services arise for a number of reasons including a shortfall in resources, lack of clarity about allocation systems, repeat assessments/means tests, having to move between agencies and delays in processing applications for services.
This Submission focuses on three main areas of service delivery: access to information; co-ordination and integration of services; and consultation with service users and raises issues that need to be addressed.
