So the 2008-2011 Draft Programme for Government [Adminstration? – Ed] has been published. The BBC have it here [pdf file]. There are reports on the BBC and on the RTÉ websites which pick out some of the highlights. The investment section [separate pdf file here] seems based on the previously announced Investment Strategy.. so I’ve picked out some of the other declarations of some interest – beyond ‘thinking of the children’, that is – below the fold. Adds As Mark Devenport puts it – “We are swimming in a sea of promises..”On the adminstration of Public Services..
We will:
• Reduce by 25% the administrative burden on farmers and agri-food businesses by 2013.
• Review the overall number of Government departments by 2011.
• Provide a network of one-stop shops to improve access to DARD services by 2011.
• Establish a Library Authority and an Education and Skills Authority by 2009.
• Introduce a single telephone number contact point for public services by 2009.
And the key goals
Key Goals
We will deliver more efficient and effective public services and bring Government closer to the citizen by:
1) Delivering 5% efficiency savings on administration costs each year for the next 3 years for all Government departments.
2) Delivering 3% per annum efficiency savings on departments’ resource budgets and using the Performance Efficiency Delivery Unit to drive higher levels of savings.
3) Generating an extra £1.0bn of capital realisations by 2011 to invest in our infrastructure.
4) Modernising the structure and powers of local government by 2011.
5) Consolidating and streamlining 70% of Government department and agency websites by 2009.
The Northern Ireland Executive’s Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness is quoted in the BBC report
“This place is truly under new management – and who would have believed how far we have come in so short a time.”
Indeed..
Another report of those promises here
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