All A&E patients should be seen within four hours by 2004

Michael Barber, giving an update on the government's key goals for public service reform, said the rail system had not yet recovered from the Hatfield train crash.

He said while there had been "demonstrable progress" in improvements to its public services, the government will need to sustain its focus on key priorities and build up capacity, particularly in the health service.

This brief review shows progress across the public services is real Michael Barber

Mr Barber was underlining Tony Blair's claims that improvements were being made in cutting child poverty, investing in schools and hospitals and reducing crime.

He defended government targets as "an essential element" of managing any large organisation as they allowed its key goals to be tracked.

"The government's targets are representations of the real-world outcomes that citizens most want to see, such as reduced crime, reduced waiting times and so on," he said.

The government was seeking to bring about "irreversible progress", rather than marginal progress, in the public services, he added.

Turning to health, Mr Barber said 90% of patients attending hospital accident and emergency units would be treated within four hours by 2003 and 100% would be seen in that time by 2004.

Gun crime

The NHS had shown "demonstrable progress" but the challenges for the Department of Health remained "very substantial", he said.

While progress made on crime was "demonstrable", this was not yet irreversible and there was no room for complacency.

The police and other agencies needed to have a sustained focus on tackling gun crime and the implementing new laws to deal with anti-social behaviour, he said.

A "plateau" had been reached in primary education English and maths, but recent international data showed Britain was now sustaining a "world class performance".

For the 14-year-old age group, there had been "some progress" in English, maths and science since 1997, said Mr Barber.

School attendance

Further progress was expected next year as the national Key Stage 3 strategy took effect.

While there had been a "steady rise" in GCSE results, increases in capital expenditure had enabled the overhaul of the entire building stock, he said.

"Summing up on education, therefore, the system is significantly better on nearly all key indicators, although on some it is more modest than others," he said.

"On school attendance, for example, performance is flat, while the recent funding issue has been serious and it is essential that the recently announced changes are effectively implemented."

Mr Barber stressed: "This brief review shows progress across the public services is real.

"On some indicators there has been step change, on others solid progress and on a small number progress has not yet been sufficient.

"Overall my conclusion, therefore, is that there is demonstrable progress but it is not yet irreversible and the government will need to sustain its focus on key priorities, continue to build up capacity, especially in the health service, and ensure that the reform programme in each key area is managed through to a result."