Business plan quarterly data summary (QDS)

Publications

The QDS is designed to fit on a single page to provide a quarterly snapshot on how each department is spending its budget, the results it has achieved and how it is deploying its workforce.

The QDS follows commitments made at Budget 2011 and the Written Ministerial Statement on Business Plans. Its primary purpose is to make more of the management information currently held by government available to members of the public on a regular basis.

We intend that an annual version of this information be formally laid in Parliament in the Annual Report and Accounts for July 2011/12 onwards.

The information is presented in excel format to allow the information to be presented in a re-usable format.

The QDS template is the same for all departments, though many of the individual indicators are unique to the department (especially input and impact indicators).

People should be cautious using this data to make comparisons between departments for several reasons. Firstly, the business of each department is unique and it does not make sense to compare some measures across all departments. Secondly, many of the measures are not directly comparable because they do not have common definitions, time periods, or data collection processes. Therefore, before using this data people should ensure they take full note of the caveats included in each department’s measurement annex.

Over time we will be making improvements to the data quality and timeliness so that the public will be able to judge the performance of each department in an increasingly meaningful and understandable manner.

We will be updating the QDS each quarter with the next publication following in July 2012.

Background information

The Business Plan Quarterly Data Summary (QDS) has been developed to report departmental performance and allow comparison between departments. The QDS is divided into three sections: Spending, Results and People. Spending includes information on expenditure on major projects, and Common Areas of Spend, such as estate and IT costs. Results focuses on data relevant to the DfT Business Plan, including input and impact indicators and Structural Reform Plan commitments, and the People section provides data on the DfT workforce, including data on staff within DfT’s executive agencies.