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Acupuncture

Mr. Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what courses exist for training in acupuncture; how these are funded; what financial support students can claim while studying; what plans he has to review the arrangements; and if he will make a statement. [96850]

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Ms Stuart: The identification and accreditation of suitable training courses for any complementary therapy is primarily the responsibility of the professional body or bodies which regulate it. An increasing number of higher education courses in complementary and alternative medicine are being offered in publicly-funded institutions and are meeting the requirements set by the Education Student Support Regulations 1999 for automatic designation for student support. While the Department for Education and Employment does not routinely collect details of such courses, any which are either wholly run by a private institution or are jointly provided by a privately and publicly funded institution must apply to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Education and Employment for special designation.

Any student on a designated course receives the same package of financial student support as any student in higher education. Tuition fees are means-tested and, depending on individual circumstances, a student may pay all, part, or none of the cost himself. Student loans are available. And supplementary grants may be made in particular circumstances, for example to disabled students or those with dependants. Students on non-designated courses do not qualify for student support.

Optical Services

Mr. Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to increase the value of the vouchers given to pensioners for the purchase of spectacles; and if he will make a statement. [96600]

Mr. Hutton: Children and adults of all ages on low incomes are eligible for optical vouchers which vary in value depending upon the power of the prescription. From last April we increased the voucher values from between 2.5 per cent. and 18 per cent. to target help towards patients with the highest refractory errors. As a result the highest value voucher increased from £125 to £147.50. We will shortly be announcing the increase to take effect from April 2000.

CABINET OFFICE

Departmental Publications

Mr. Maclean: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if she will list her Department's spending on official publications since May 1997. [93689]

Marjorie Mowlam: The spending on official publications by the Cabinet Office and its Executive Agencies between 1 May 1997 and 31 July 1999, which includes identifiable costs incurred by the Department in publishing, production and purchase of copies for official use, is listed in a table, a copy of which has been placed in the Library. This excludes publications produced solely for internal purposes. Where the Department makes use of a private sector publisher, the publishing, printing and design costs are normally met by the publisher, as part of their acceptance of the risks of publication.

Performance Targets

Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if she will list all performance targets set for her Department, agencies and non-departmental public bodies

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since May 1997, other than those listed in Public Service Agreements 1999-2002 [Cm 4181], stating in each case (a) the target to be reached and (b) the date by which it was to be reached. [94989]

Marjorie Mowlam: The Cabinet Office has no performance targets other than those listed in Public Service Agreements 1999-2001 (Cm 4181).

The targets for each of my Department's agencies are shown in the table.

Details of performance targets for COI can be found in COI's annual reports. The last report was published in July 1999 by the Stationery Office (ISBN: 0-10-273199-3).

None of the non-departmental public bodies are executive and are therefore included within the rest of my Department's targets.

1997-98

Target	Target date
Security Facilities Executive--Targets announced 15 July 1997 (Official Report WA 100-101)
To achieve 100% cost recovery in accruals terms excluding 0.5% restructuring costs	Year to 31 March 1998
To achieve a Vote surplus of £0.2 million, excluding restructuring costs	Year to 31 March 1998
To achieve sales of £20 million	Year to 31 March 1998
To achieve a reduction in the unit cost of outputs of no less than 4% in real terms	Year to 31 March 1998
To achieve a customer satisfaction rating of 92%	Year to 31 March 1998
To reassess the timetable and produce a revised action plan for attaining Investors in People accreditation in 1999	By 31 March 1998
To maintain accreditation to quality standard ISO 9000, and extend it to cover Common Services	By 31 March 1998
Property Advisers to the Civil Estate--Target announced 23 July 1997 (Official Report WA 582)
To identify savings from proposals to be agreed with departments for the co-ordination of property activities on the Civil Estate which in net present terms should be at least 10 times the agency's related running costs	Year to 31 March 1998
To deliver on time at least 85% of the Central Advice Unit's annual work plan	Year to 31 March 1998
To recover 100% of the costs of providing intelligent client services and to increase the percentage of all the agency's running costs recovered	Year to 31 March 1998
To dispose of 110 freeholds and leaseholds within an annual net provision of £95 million	Year to 31 March 1998
To achieve 75% overall customer satisfaction for the agency's services.	Year to 31 March 1998
The Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency--Targets announced 30 July 1997 ( Official Report WA 315)
To break even on an accruals basis	Year to 31 March 1998
To deliver CCTA services within voted provision	Year to 31 March 1998
To establish a baseline for operation within the CCTA customer charter	31 March 1998
To secure savings which will result in a 5% reduction in the cost of supporting services in 1998-98	31 March 1998
To achieve 85% of customers assessing satisfaction with CCTA's services at levels 1 and 2 of a 5 point scale	Year to 31 March 1998
Civil Service College--Targets announced 30 July 1997 (Official Report WA 315)
To break even on an accruals basis	Year to 31 March 1998
To earn £1.5 million from consultancy	Year to 31 March 1998
To attract 900 students from the private sector	Year to 31 March 1998
To attract 1,515 students from the Senior Civil Service	Year to 31 March 1998
To earn 88% of students' course evaluations in the highest 2 of 6 categories	Year to 31 March 1998
Central Office of Information--Targets announced 30 July 1997 (Official Report WA 315)
To achieve a surplus of £1 million in modified historical cost terms after recovering all costs including interest on borrowings	Year to 31 March 1998
To achieve a 2% increase in efficiency as measured by unit cost reduction	Year to 31 March 1998
To achieve an average score of 8.25 out of 10 for COI customer satisfaction index	Year to 31 March 1998

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1998-99

Target	Target date
The Buying Agency--Targets announced 28 April 1998 (Official Report WA 109-100)
To generate a return on capital employed of 8%	Year to 31 December 1998
To increase total sales by 2% on an accruals basis	Year to 31 December 1998
To reduce the cost per pound of total savings by 2.5% on 1997 outturn	Year to 31 December 1998
To maintain the cost per pound of total sales at 1997 outturn	Year to 31 December 1998
To resolve 95% of customers' complaints received in the year within one month, except where explicitly agreed otherwise by the customer	Year to 31 December 1998
To deliver 95% of direct orders by the due date	Year to 31 December 1998
To secure re-accreditation under ISO 9001	31 December 1998
To reduce the Agency's electricity consumption per member of staff at its headquarters by 3%	Year to 31 December 1998
Property Advisers to the Civil Estate--Targets announced 7 May 1998 (Official Report WA 445)
To identify savings from proposals to be agreed with departments for the co-ordination of property activities on the Civil Estate which in net present terms should be at least 11 times the agency's related running costs	Year to 31 March 1999
To deliver on time at least 90% of the Central Advice Unit's annual work plan	Year to 31 March 1999
To recover 100% of the costs of providing intelligent client services and to increase the percentage of all the agency's running costs recovered to 10%	Year to 31 March 1999
To dispose of 75 freeholds and leaseholds and to maintain expenditure within voted provision	Year to 31 March 1999
To achieve 2.5% improvement in overall customer satisfaction for the agency's services	Year to 31 March 1999
The Government Car and Despatch Agency--16 June 1998 (Official Report WA 152)
To break even on an accruals basis	Year to 31 March 1999
To maintain sales turnover at 1997-98 outturn	Year to 31 March 1999
To maintain expenditure and receipts within voted provision	Year to 31 March 1999
To improve the gross contribution as a percentage of sales revenue by 2%	Year to 31 March 1999
To increase income per point of labour cost to £2.00	Year to 31 March 1999
To review the existing customer satisfaction survey and establish a benchmark for future performance	31 March 1999
To achieve an annual average of 26 miles per gallon for the GCS and IDS fleets	Year to 31 March 1999
The Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency--Targets announced 21 July 1998 (Official Report WA 444)
To break even on an accruals basis	Year to 31 March 1999
To deliver CCTA services within voted provision	Year to 31 March 1999
To achieve 75% of customers surveyed confirming that CCTA has operated within the terms of its Charter	Year to 31 March 1999
To secure a 5% reduction in the cost of support services	Year to 31 March 1999
To secure customer satisfaction at levels 1 and 2 (out of 5) on 85% of assignments and services delivered	Year to 31 March 1999
Civil Service College--21 July 1998 (Official Report WA 444)
To break even on an accruals basis	Year to 31 March 1999
To achieve £900,000 of consultancy income	Year to 31 March 1999
To attract 1,500 students from the Senior Civil Service	Year to 31 March 1999
To attract 900 students from the private sector	Year to 31 March 1999
To earn 88% of student course evaluations in the highest 2 categories (on a 6 point scale)	Year to 31 March 1999
Central Office of Administration--Targets announced 21 July 1998 (Official Report WA 444)
To achieve a financial surplus of £1 million on an accruals basis	Year to 31 March 1999
To achieve efficiency improvements of a unit cost reduction of 2%	Year to 31 March 1999
To achieve a customer satisfaction index of 8.25 (out of 10)	Year to 31 March 1999

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1999-2000 Targets set for the Cabinet Office Agencies for 1999-2000 are covered by (but not listed in) the Department's PSA targets

Target	Target date
The Buying Agency--Targets announced 28 July 1999 (Official Report WA 322)
To generate a return on capital employed of 8% (excluding the costs of restructuring)	Year to 31 December 1999
To reduce the cost per pound of savings by 2.5% on 19998 outturn	Year to 31 December 1999
To raise customer satisfaction by 5% over the year	Year to 31 December 1999
The Government Car and Despatch Agency--Targets announced 12 May 1999 (Official Report WA 174)
To break even on an accruals basis	Year to 31 March 2000
To achieve sales turnover of £11 million	Year to 31 March 2000
To maintain expenditure and receipts within voted provision	Year to 31 March 2000
To maintain gross contribution as a percentage of sales at 1998-99 outturn	Year to 31 March 2000
To increase income per point of labour cost to £2.04	Year to 31 March 2000
To improve customer satisfaction by 2%	Year to 31 March 2000
To convert to alternative environmentally friendly fuels 50% of the cars purchased and capable of conversion	Year to 31 March 2000
Property Advisers to the Civil Estate--Targets announced 15 July 1999 (Official Report WA 285)
To identify savings from proposals to be agreed with departments for the co-ordination of property activities on the Civil Estate which in net present value terms should be at least 12 times the agency's related running costs	Year to 31 March 2000
To deliver on time at least 93% of the Central Advice Unit's annual work plan	Year to 31 March 2000
To recover 100% of the costs of providing intelligent client services and to increase the percentage of all the agency's running costs recovered to 12%	Year to 31 March 2000
To achieve an improvement in overall customer satisfaction for the agency's services	Year to 31 March 2000
Civil Service College--Targets announced 15 July 1999 (Official Report WA 286)
To break even on an accruals basis	Year to 31 March 2000
To generate an income on consultancy of £1.1 million	Year to 31 March 2000
To attract 1,900 students from the Senior Civil Service	Year to 31 March 2000
To attract 900 students from the private sector	Year to 31 March 2000
To achieve 89% of course evaluations by students in the highest two categories (on a 6 point scale)	Year to 31 March 2000
Central Office of Information--Targets announced 15 July 1999 (Official Report WA 286)
To achieve a financial surplus of £0.1 million on an accruals basis	Year to 31 March 2000
To achieve efficiency improvements of a unit cost reduction of 2%	Year to 31 March 2000
To achieve a customer satisfaction index of 8.25 (out of 10)	Year to 31 March 2000
Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency--Target announced 20-7-99 (Official Report WA 490)
To break even on an accruals basis	Year to 31 March 2000
To deliver CCTA services within voted provision	Year to 31 March 2000
To achieve 75% of customers surveyed confirming that CCTA has operated within the terms of its Charter	Year to 31 March 2000
To secure savings that will reduce the cost of support services by 5%	Year to 31 March 2000
To achieve 93% of customer satisfaction evaluations in the top 2 boxes of a 5 box scale	Year to 31 March 2000

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