The day-to-day running costs of public services sit at around £400bn in spending by central government departments. The Operational Delivery Profession (ODP) is the public face of the civil service, and has 250,000 members providing most of these services to customers, from issuing passports and visas to operating courts and job centres.
Multiple PAC reports have highlighted the need for organisations to understand their service users and better deal with demand. HMRC Customer Service 2023-24 report found that the tax authority’s already poor service to taxpayers had become even worse, while its report on the Department for Work and Pensions’ customer service for the same year found that service provided to customers was a mixed bag, with disability benefits claimants receiving an unacceptably poor level of service.
In 2023, the National Audit Office (NAO) published good practice guides for operational management, which identified gaps in operational capability to provide services across government and included examples of good practice. Informed by these guides, the PAC will hear from senior government officials and representatives of the ODP to examine systematic gaps in operational capability across government, and how learning can be applied to improve services and productivity.
If you have evidence on these issues please submit it here by 23:59 on Monday 30 June 2025.
Please look at the requirements for written evidence submissions and note that the Committee cannot accept material as evidence that is published elsewhere.
Please note that the Committee is unable to consider or assist with individual cases. If you need help with an individual problem you are having, you may wish to read the information on Parliament’s website about who you can contact with different issues.