The office for social inclusion in my Department is responsible for co-ordinating and overseeing the implementation of the national anti-poverty strategy, NAPS. The revised NAPS, Building an Inclusive Society, 2002, contains a commitment to move towards a more formal expression of entitlements across the range of public services and to set standards and guidelines regarding the standard of service delivery which can be expected by the customer.
The Department of the Taoiseach has led developments on this issue. The customer charter initiative, launched by the Taoiseach in December 2002, requires Departments and offices to formalise their commitments to service provision and delivery by describing in a public charter the level of service a customer can expect from a Department or office. This initiative on service standards, by assisting the development of formal expressions of entitlements across a range of public services, recognises that citizenship rights encompass not only the core civil and political rights and obligations but also social, economic and cultural rights and obligations.
As a support to Departments and offices in preparing their charters, the Government approved a detailed set of guidelines in September 2003 that provide a framework for Departments and offices in preparing and reporting on their charters. Charters are based around a four step cycle of consultation, commitment, evaluation and reporting. The guidelines recommend that, in their consultation phase, Departments and offices should consult with all customer groups, including "representatives of groups experiencing, or vulnerable to, poverty and social exclusion as identified by the national anti-poverty strategy and to those covered by equality legislation — gender, marital status, family status, age, disability, sexual orientation, race, religion and membership of the Traveller Community".
As of October 2004, 19 customer charters have been published and the remainder will be published before the end of this year. Departments and offices will report on the implementation of the service standards included in their charters in their 2004 annual reports. The office for social inclusion will continue to co-operate with all relevant Departments in monitoring progress. The first annual report of the office is currently being finalised and will contain an account of progress during the first year of the plan under a number of different policy headings, including access to resources, rights goods and services.