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Comprehensive Spending Review 2007 - Performance Framework

Public Service Agreements 2008-2011

On 9th October 2007, the Government published the results of the Comprehensive Spending Review 2007 (CSR 2007). As well as spending settlements for all departments, it contains a new set of cross-government priorities or Public Service Agreements (PSAs), to replace those which were agreed in the previous Spending Review (SR04). These will be key priorities for the government for the period from April 2008 until March 2011.

Several features of the new framework should be noted:

  • There will be a much smaller number of PSAs: 30 new PSAs (or around 2-3 per department), replacing more than 100 existing departmental PSAs. These will form the key priorities for government as a whole over the period of the CSR.
  • PSAs will be outcome- rather than target-focused, and will be underpinned by a small number of indicators
  • Each PSA will be supported by a "delivery agreement". Each PSA will have a lead government department, but delivery agreements will define the contributions of other government departments towards them. Each PSA and its delivery agreement will be overseen by a cabinet sub-committee, if required.

The new framework also requires departments to develop a set of Departmental Strategic Objectives (DSOs). Between them, these DSOs cover the full breadth of a department's work, and are no less important than PSAs. In Defra we will be assessing our own performance internally against these DSOs, and reporting regularly against them to Treasury. Like the PSAs, the DSOs will last for the period of the CSR until 2011.

Defra-led PSAs

Defra will lead two cross-government PSAs in the new CSR period, one on Climate Change and the other on the natural Environment. The titles of these are:

  • Secure a healthy natural environment for today and the future
  • Lead the global effort to avoid dangerous climate change

The full delivery agreements for these two PSAs can be found on the HM Treasury website:

Supplementary information on both of these PSAs can be found in the documents below:

Indicators for Defra-led PSAs

The Climate Change PSA will be measured against the following indicators:

  • Global CO2 emissions to 2050
  • Adaptation – proportion of areas with sustainable abstraction
  • Size of the global carbon market
  • Total UK greenhouse gas and CO2 emissions
  • Greenhouse gas and CO2 intensity of the UK economy
  • A measurement of cost-effectiveness

The Natural Environment PSA will be measured against the following indicators:

  • Water - improving water quality as measured by parameters assessed by Environment Agency river water quality monitoring programmes
  • Biodiversity - as measured by data on bird populations in England as a proxy for the health of wider biodiversity
  • Air quality - improving air quality by meeting the Air Quality Strategy targets for eight air pollutants
  • Marine - Clean, healthy, safe, productive and biologically diverse oceans and seas as indicated by proxy measurements of fish stocks, sea pollution and plankton status.
  • Land management - the positive and negative impacts of agricultural land management to the natural environment

Further details on these indicators can be found in the delivery agreements for these two PSAs.

Sustainable Development

As expressed clearly through the overarching goals governing the new PSAs, sustainable development is delivered by Government as a whole. In order to ensure strong accountability for the delivery of sustainable development, Government will monitor a sub-set of indicators drawn from PSAs and Departmental Strategic Objectives across Departments and take action in an integrated way. Defra will act as champion for sustainable development within Government. The Sustainable Development Commission will continue to act as independent advisor, advocate and "watchdog" to Government, holding it to account on its performance regarding sustainable development.

PSAs led by Other Government Departments

Defra has signed up to be a formal delivery partner for the following PSAs (lead department in brackets):

  • Olympics (Department of Culture Media and Sport)
  • Housing (Department of Communities and Local Government)
  • Child Poverty (Treasury)
  • Regional Economic Performance (Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform)
  • International Poverty Reduction (Department for International Development )
  • Counter-terrorism (Home Office)
  • Service Transformation (Cabinet Office)

Defra will also contribute (but not as a formal delivery partner) to these other PSAs:

  • Health and Well-being (Department of Health)
  • Later life (Department of Work and Pensions )
  • Safer communities (Home Office)
  • Community Cohesion (Department of Communities and Local Government)

The delivery agreement for each of these PSAs has been published on the Treasury website.

Defra Departmental Strategic Objectives

Defra will have 8 Departmental Strategic Objectives:

  • Climate change tackled internationally and through domestic action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
  • A healthy, resilient, productive and diverse natural environment
  • Sustainable patterns of consumption and production
  • Economy and society resilient to environmental risk and adapted to the impacts of climate change
  • A thriving farming and food sector with an improving net environmental impact
  • Sustainable Development championed across government, across the UK, and internationally
  • Strong rural communities
  • A respected department delivering efficient and high quality services and outcomes

Intermediate outcomes

Below these DSOs Defra will have 32 intermediate outcomes which will each be measured by one or more indicators. These intermediate outcomes and their indicators are set out in the table below, which also illustrates how they relate to the departmental strategic objectives.

Page last modified: 29 February 2008
Page published: 09 October 2007

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs