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Social Exclusion Unit

: May I interrupt the Minister before he leaves targets? Perhaps I am speaking through him to the unit as it continues its work on improving services. One thing that has become clear is the importance attached to a particular Government target—for example, two days to see one's general practitioner. There is a difference in perception between what Ministers would like and what receptionists and people in surgeries believe. That is one example, but the culture exists elsewhere. To achieve the objectives that the Minister and the Government want to achieve, that perception must change so that people do not feel that if they are responsive to a patient or someone looking for a service, they are hurting themselves, their unit or their organisation because they will be unable to put a tick in the right box. That culture has seeped into the relationship between front-line-staff and the public, and if that is not the intention, it needs to be cleared up. We talked to people in the public services at front-line level and in different parts of the administration, and that is what they sense. It would be helpful if the unit addressed that.