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I wish the director general and his staff every success in the coming years.Non-nuclear Research Establishments
Mr. Robert G. Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on progress made towards establishing the defence non-nuclear research establishments as an executive agency.
Mr. Tom King : I am pleased to announce the creation of the Defence Research Agency which will be vested as an executive agency on 1 April this year. The agency will comprise the four main non-nuclear research establishments, the Admiralty Research Establishment, the Royal Aerospace Establishment, the Royal Armament Research and Development Establishment, and the Royal Signals and Radar Establishment.
The Defence Research Agency--DRA--will provide the expert scientific and technical services required of it primarily by the MOD but also other Government Departments, in a way which is cost-effective and where necessary impartial ; in support of this, the DRA is also encouraged to provide services to non-Exchequer customers. The DRA will continue to represent Her Majesty's Government in its participation in international and collaborative activities. An open competition has been mounted to select and appoint a chief executive for the next three to five years ; the outcome should be determined by early May. Meanwhile Mr. Nigel Hughes, now chief executive (designate), will act as chief executive from 1 April. The chief executive will have the financial and personnel powers which are set out in the agency's published framework document, copies of which will be placed in the Library shortly. Where hon. or right hon. Members have queries on matters relating to the operation of the Defence Research Agency I hope they will write in the first instance to the chief executive. I will continue to deal with questions of policy.
I will be setting the agency a range of targets to ensure that it delivers progressive improvements in the quality and efficiency of the services it supplies to its customers. The initial targets I have set for the Defence Research Agency during the period 1991-96 are : (
(a) to achieve efficiency improvements of an average of 2 per cent. per annum over the next five years, by delivering a saving of £10 million in 1991-92 and a reduction of an average of 2 per cent. per annum in terms of full cost per chargeable hour in the following four years ;
(b) to develop in 1991-92 a programme for asset rationalisation against which targets will be set for the following years ; to improve asset utilisation, defined as the ratio of turnover to average fixed assets, including those leased ; and
to reduce the total value of fixed assets employed in the business in accordance with the programme by a combination of rationalisation and reduced leasing ;
(c) to keep within the budget agreed for the DRA ;
(d) to complete 80 per cent. of orders and contracts due for completion during the review period and valued at more than £5 million, within budget, taking account of any negotiated changes, and to increase this proportion to 90 per cent. by the end of 1995-96 ; (
(e) within orders and contracts, to achieve 50 per cent. of milestones within plus or minus one month, and increase this by 5 per cent. per annum over five years ;
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(f) to improve the perceived quality of service to customers, as indicated by annual customer satisfaction surveys ;(g) to enhance existing management information systems, and to develop and implement an internal output and performance measurement system by October 1991 ;
(h) to introduce a commercial accounting system by 1 October 1991, to train 70 per cent. of potential users of the system by the same date, and complete initial training of all staff who need to use it by 1 April 1992 ; and
(j) to introduce arrangements from 1 October 1991 to give MOD customers information on the cost and quality of work done for them by the DRA to support a tautened customer/supplier relationship and to prepare progressively for subsequent trading fund operation. I wish the chief executive and his staff every success for the future in meeting their objectives of providing greater quality of service and better value for money.
Directorate General of Defence Accounts
Mr. Stevens : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement about the establishment of the Directorate General of Defence Accounts as a defence support agency.
Mr. Kenneth Carlisle : The Directorate General of Defence Accounts-- DGDA--is to become a defence support agency on 1 April 1991. The chief executive will be the present incumbent, Mr. M. J. Dymond.
The DGDA's role is to provide accountancy services to the MOD. It pays bills, civilian salaries and wages, makes superannuation awards, recovers moneys due, maintains the central ledger, produces the appropriation account and provides accounting advice and data. Its role is crucial to the successful implementation of new management strategy for defence. The DGDA's systems will provide much of the financial information which is needed to run the new devolved management structures.
The DGDA provides a high-quality professional service. It will aim to achieve new standards of excellence in dealings between the agency and its customers. To this end, the chief executive has been set demanding targets covering all areas of performance.
Agency status will give the DGDA the freedoms and flexibilities it needs to perform its role more effectively and efficiently, providing continuous improvements in the quality of the service it offers to users.
The chief executive's targets for the early years are :
(a) to develop and agree service level agreements for each of the DGDA's functions and tasks with customers by 31 July 1991 and thereafter to meet agreed time, cost and quality of service criteria as laid down in individual service level agreements ;
(b) to reduce the turnaround time of civilian travel claims from 15 to 10 working days by 31 March 1992 ;
(c) to introduce a two-weekly billing timetable for bills by the end of 1991-92 ;
(d) to reduce throughput errors in DGDA in the following areas : --non- industrial pay to 3 per cent.; industrial pay by 1 per cent.; pensions to 2 per cent.; civilian travel claims to 2 per cent.; and bill payment by 2 per cent.
(e) to carry out agreed tasks to time, standard and within budget ;
(f) to achieve a sustained improvement in overall efficiency reflected in the budgeted costs of the following indicators : cost per pay account, cost per travel claim, cost per bill, cost per receipt and cost per pensions award ;
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(g) to achieve efficiency improvements of at least £450,000 in 1991-92 ;(h) to produce a saving in the overall defence budget of £450,000 by the introduction of revised selective checking procedures in the D Acs (Bills) area ;
(j) to review existing internal management information systems and identify management requirements by 30 August 1991, and to develop and implement systems, including unit cost measurement, capable of measuring performance of the agency more effectively by 27 March 1992 ;
(k) to review the systems and resources required to carry out the agreed tasks and meet targets set for MOD HQ in "Options for Change", with the aim of reducing the net cost of the agency to the MOD and of minimising spare capacity where possible. Where spare capacity cannot be eliminated, to seek to utilise it by expanding the customer base in accordance with the business development strategy.
I wish the chief executive and his staff every success in their new status.
Territorial Army
Mr. Brazier : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence which items in a Territorial Army unit's budget for 1992 are to be included in cash terms.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : The items which may be included in a unit's budget in cash terms are pay, earnings-related national insurance contributions, training expenses allowance, bounty, travel costs and subsistence.
Mr. Brazier : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what man training day allocations are to be made to Territorial Army units in 1992 by category.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : I am unable to give the information requested as, due to the introduction of the new management strategy, man training day allocations are devolved to the chain of command and hence made unit by unit according to role and training need.
Mr. Brazier : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the principal units in the Territorial Army.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : The principal units of the Territorial Army are :
2 Army Reconnaissance Regiments
3 Light Reconnaissance Regiments
2 Field Artillery Regiments
4 Air Defence Regiments
8 Engineer Regiments
41 Infantry Battalions
2 Special Air Service Regiments
1 Honourable Artillery Company
11 Royal Signal Regiments
12 Royal Corps Transport Regiments
10 General Hospital (RAMC)
3 Field Hospital (RAMC)
1 Evacuation Hospital (RAMC)
Mr. Brazier : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many drill halls the Territorial Army has, by region.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : The regional deployment of Territorial Army centres is as follows :
Tavra Region |Number of
|Territorial
|Army centres
-------------------------------------------------
Highland |42
Lowland |38
North East |41
Yorkshire & Humberside |50
East Midlands |53
East Anglia |28
South East |33
Eastern Wessex |31
Western Wessex |36
North West |54
West Midlands |47
Northern Ireland |30
Wales |39
Greater London |57
Mr. Brazier : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will provide the hon. Member for Canterbury with the most recent report of the Territorial Army national employers liaison committee.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : My noble Friend the Under-Secretary of State for the Armed Forces will write to my hon. Friend.
Mr. Brazier : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what are the additional costs of a Territorial Army parachute battalion as against a non -parachute Territorial Army infantry battalion ; and what are the principal items which incur these extra costs.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : The information is not held in the form requested and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Gulf War
Mr. Bernie Grant : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what attempts have been made since 27 February by the United Kingdom, the allied military coalition, or the United Nations to establish the nationalities of those people killed by allied attacks on road convoys at Mutla hill, Kuwait and Umm Qasr road on 26-27 February.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : Personal effects of bodies buried by British personnel have been passed to the International Committee of the Red Cross, in accordance with our obligations under the first Geneva convention. I understand that other members of the coalition followed the same practice.
Mr. Bernie Grant : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether any British prisoners of war released by Iraq were physically abused while under Iraqi custody.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : Indications from initial debriefing of British prisoners of war released by Iraq are that their treatment in captivity was varied, ranging from serious beatings at some sites, in breach of Iraq's obligations under the third Geneva convention, to relatively good conditions and medical attention at others.
Coldstream Guards
Mr. Corbett : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what information he has on the reason 20 selected recruits to the Coldstream Guards were advised that they could not join the regiment as planned in November 1990 and would have to wait until April 1991.
Mr. Alan Clark : As a result of pressures on the defence budget, restrictions on enlistments to the Army have meant that some regiments, including the Coldstream Guards, have had to defer the entry date of prospective recruits.
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Army Regiments
Mr. Corbett : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many Army regiments that have spent up to their financial quota imposed by his Department are now funding recruits out of regimental funds until the start of the new financial year.
Mr. Alan Clark : No regiments are using their regimental funds to fund recruits.
EMPLOYMENT
Social Charter
11. Mr. John Marshall : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment when he last met Mrs. Papandreou to discuss the social charter.
Mr. Howard : I met Mrs. Papandreou on 14 January to discuss the Commission's social action programme and priorities for social affairs in the Community in 1991. I put to her some specific proposals for improving the procedures adopted by the Commission in the social affairs field which I am pleased to say she has now accepted.
Port of Goole (Accidents)
Mr. Morley : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list the number of recorded accidents which have taken place at the port of Goole in the course of the employment of dockers, stevedores and dock workers for each year since 1985.
Mr. Forth : The table shows the number of injuries to employees in services supporting water transport in Boothferry and Scunthorpe, the local authority areas covering the port of Goole, reported to the Health and Safety Executive's factory and agricultural inspectorates under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1985 for the period requested :
Year |Fatal |Major |Over |Total (1 April to 31 March) |3-day ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1986-87 |- |1 |2 |3 1987-88 |- |- |4 |4 1988-89 |- |1 |7 |8 1989-90 |- |1 |8 |9
It is not possible to give separate injury statistics for dockers, stevedores and dock workers, as these are not individually identified within the reporting category. Nor can the number of separate accidents causing these injuries by identified.
Advertising
18. Mr. Nicholas Brown : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what his Department spent on advertising and promotional material in 1985-86 and what is the total budget for 1990-91.
Mr. Jackson : The Department's expenditure on advertising and promotional material in 1985-86 was £17.1 million. The total budget for 1990-91 is £29 million.
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Health and Safety Executive
20. Mr. Tony Lloyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment whether he has any plans to increase the Government grant in aid of the Health and Safety Executive ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Forth : Estimates provide for grant in aid to the Health and Safety Commission in 1991-92 of £140 million ; an increase of £20 million over the 1990-91 level. Full details of Health and Safety Commission and Executive plans for use of these resources will be published in the plan of work for 1991-92 and beyond in the spring.
Career Development Loans
21. Mr. Hague : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how much money has been made available under career development loans to individuals to assist them in training.
Mr. Howard : At the end of February 1991 the three participating banks had lent almost £40 million to more than 16,000 individuals.
Wakefield TEC
22. Mr. O'Brien : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment when he last met the chairman of the Wakefield TEC to discuss training provision ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Jackson : I intend to meet the chairman of Wakefield TEC on 15 April to discuss a range of training and enterprise issues. Wakefield TEC has provided creative and imaginative plans. I am confident that these will substantially benefit the economy of the Wakefield area.
Employment Rehabilitation Service
23. Mr. Gale : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will make a statement about the work of the employment rehabilitation service.
Mr. Jackson : The employment rehabilitation service offers specialist assessment and rehabilitation to help people with disabilities get back to work or to enter training. It is already very successful. Plans for further improvements were announced in the consultative document "Employment and Training for People with Disabilities" and comments made on how to implement them most effectively are being carefully considered.
Government Training Schemes
24. Mr. Ron Brown : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many young people under the age of 25 years secured full-time employment in 1990 as a result of Government-sponsored training schemes.
Mr. Jackson : Of those under 25 years, 63 per cent. of those leaving YT and 32 per cent. of those leaving ET went into full-time employment.
Unemployment
Mr. Cox : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what was the number of people unemployed in the London borough of Wandsworth on 21 March.
Mr. Jackson : On the latest count date of 7 February 1991 there were 10,959 on the unadjusted basis.
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