Government departments are under pressure to tighten their belts, to help trim the fiscal deficit. The Efficiency Unit aims to help, by sharing public service reform know-how and experience. Its new website means practical advice is just a few clicks away.

Better & better: Efficiency Unit head Colin Sankey wants to transform the management and delivery of public services. The unit's initiatives are highlighted on its new website.

"Essentially, the way in which we go about it is to develop or transfer the know-how that we build up from experience and best practice elsewhere to other government departments, to help them in implementing the kinds of improvements the government is looking for," he said.

"Right from the start, the Efficiency Unit has been looking to streamline the way the Government operates. We never set out to be a cost-cutting organisation - we've looked to get more value out of what money Government spends. But increasingly, I think we do have a fairly big role to play in helping Government departments meet the tight savings pressures they're under and a lot of the initiatives that we're tackling will provide opportunities for departments to leverage off."

Early on, the main focus was on ways to improve the relationship between the Government and its clients. So the unit developed performance pledges and improved service environments.

Trading funds help departments pay own way

"Many departments bought into service improvement in a big way," Mr Sankey said. "That led on to trading funds, to try to give more flexibility to departments in delivery of services."

Good candidates for trading-fund status are those departments that are able to recover their full costs from revenue - such as through existing fees and charges levied on the public. The Efficiency Unit will help develop a framework agreement as well as corporate and business plans, identify any changes needed to legislation, and set out memoranda of understanding and service-level agreements.

Within Government, there are now several major trading funds, among them: Hongkong Post, the Electrical & Mechanical Services Department, and the Land Registry and Companies Registry.

Technology helps boost efficiency

The unit has also taken steps to introduce technology into solutions, such as with its "1823 Citizens Easy Link" Integrated Call Centre. It now takes about 25,000 calls weekly on behalf of about 16 Government departments.

"We see this as the way forward, bringing a lot more technology into the management and delivery of services, particularly as the benefits come from cutting across departmental boundaries. Technology is enabling that," Mr Sankey said.

The 1823 call centre was set up specifically to deal with problems the Government had in terms of enquiries and complaints and the many different hotline numbers that people had to call for various departments.

Now, they simply dial 1823 - "as easy as 1-2-3 with a bit of luck, the 8 for a bit of luck," Mr Sankey said. "Gradually it's making it a lot easier for the public. They don't have to know any other number but 1823. That's quite an exciting development. It's a 24-hour operation, seven days a week."

Most of the calls still come through during peak office hours, "because they haven't yet got used to the idea that Government works outside those hours. That's something we're trying to promote. If we can get calls off-peak, it gives us more time to handle the calls in-peak."

The Efficiency Unit has been behind many other initiatives, including some of the first Government developments on the Internet. These are highlighted on its new website, the Public Sector Reform Information Centre. (http://www.info.gov.hk/eu)

Information just clicks away

The site is easy to navigate, with the Efficiency Unit's six main streams highlighted on its home page. These are:

* private sector involvement;

* major re-engineering;

* organisational restructuring;

* trading funds;

* performance management; and

* management assurance.

Clicking through any one of these links takes you to the latest developments in the area and a summary of the unit's work to date - including case studies. Anyone with an interest in boosting efficiency within their own department can learn how others met and overcame their challenges.

There are also plenty of links to valuable resources including guides, reference materials and related websites that offer practical advice.

While there is growing academic interest in public-sector management, Mr Sankey says the main focus of the site is obviously civil servants.

"We want to try to let them know that we've got a lot of know-how that we're prepared to pass on."