---

Office of the Deputy Prime Minister

Answer

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister (1) what recent progress has been made towards achieving the public service agreement target to narrow the gap in health, education, crime, worklessness, housing and liveability outcomes between the most deprived areas and the rest of England by 2010; [219181] (2) what recent progress has been made towards achieving the public service agreement target to make sustainable improvements in the economic performance of all English regions by 2008; [219182] (3) what recent assessment he has made of whether the public service agreement target to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of local government in leading and delivering services to all communities by 2008, will be met; [219200] (4) what recent assessment has been made towards achieving the public service agreement target to ensure that the planning system delivers sustainable development outcomes at national, regional and local levels; [219201] (5) what recent progress has been made towards achieving the public service agreement target to lead the delivery of cleaner, safer and greener public spaces. [219202] Yvette Cooper: These public service agreement (PSA) targets, set during the 2004 spending review do not become live until April 2005. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister shall report progress against these targets in our autumn performance report for 2005, and then in subsequent annual and autumn performance reports. Work began last year preparing for the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's new and revised PSA targets and technical notes, setting out how we were to measure progress against these targets. These have been published on the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's website at: (http://www.odpm.gov.uk/stellent/groups/ odpm about/documents/divisionhomepage/ 031997.hcsp). The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has also recently published its five-year plans, Sustainable Communities: People Places and Prosperity (Cm 6425) and Sustainable Communities: Homes for All (Cm 6424), which set out how we will be tackling major challenges over the next five years.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

431 c1552-3W;431 c1546-7W; 219181;219182;219200;219201;219202

Session

2004-05

Subjects

Government departments Standards Office of the Deputy Prime Minister Public service agreements

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk