Historical facts on Citizens Charter
A citizens charter represents transparency, accountability and responsiveness of the administration. The concept of citizens charter was launched by British Prime Minister - John Major in 1991 to improve the quality of public services. He hoped that this programme will find better ways of converting money into better services. It covered a range of services from schools to health services, local authorities and private utility companies. It contained the right of redress, performance monitoring, penalties for public services, tighter regulation of privatized utilities, and the increased pressures resulting from competition and privatization. . It promised better quality for consumers through the publication of service standards. It also covered ‘Charter marks’ to be awarded to the most successful providers of services. The programme was re-focused in 1998 by the Labour Government of Tony Blair which rechristened it Services First agenda for public service delivery .
Source : GOI websites and from internet websites
