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Written Ministerial Statements Friday 11 April 2003
DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER
Ordnance Survey Business Plan 2003–06
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (Mr. Tony McNulty): Following Ministerial endorsement of the Ordnance Survey Corporate Business Plan 2003–06, the following Agency performance targets have been set for the financial year 2003–04:
Ordnance Survey will report externally against a set of Agency Performance Monitors (APMs) as required of all Executives Agencies in government:
- 1. To achieve a trading surplus before interest, dividends and exceptional items of £4.7 million for the financial year April 2003 to March 2004.
- 2. To achieve an efficiency gain in our data collection activity averaging 4 per cent. per annum over the period April 2003 to March 2006.
- 3. 99.6 per cent. of significant real world features are represented in the database within six months of completion.
- 4. To achieve an increase in business with customers transacted through our e-channels:
- 7.5 per cent. for large and medium scales mapping products in the OS Options portfolio, ordered through the OS Options internet-based product delivery technology; and
- 5 per cent. for small scales mapping products ordered through the OS Leisure Map shop on the Ordnance Survey Web-site.
- 5. To continuously improve the timeliness of the supply of our data to customers with a success rate not lower than 90 per cent.
- 6. To reduce carbon emissions from Ordnance Survey Headquarters by 25 per cent. against the base year of 2000–01.
These targets reflect Ordnance Survey's continuing commitment to customers, improved value for money for all of its stakeholders, and commitment to Government policies.
Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (Mr. Christopher Leslie): Key Performance Targets have been agreed for the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre for the period 1 April 2003 to 31 March 2004.
The agency's principal financial target for 2003–04 is to achieve a minimum dividend payment to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister of £700,000.
An operational target has been set to achieve combined room occupancy of 470 days in the three key conference areas within the centre.
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The agency also has the following quality of service targets:
- Overall score for value for money satisfaction of 90 per cent.
The number of complaints received to be less than two per 100 events.
An average response time when answering complaints of less than four working days.
Local e-Government, e-Voting and theInvest to Save Budget: Special Grant Report
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (Mr. Christopher Leslie): I have today laid before the House a Special Grant Report (No. 121), which contains powers to pay grant to local authorities under the Government's Local e-Government Programme and the Invest to Save Budget. The Report contains the following elements:
- Nearly £2 million of funding to support six innovative local authority projects under the Invest to Save Budget;
£23 million of funding under the Local e-Government Programme to support six National Projects;
£26 million to support 82 Shared Service Delivery Partnerships. These Partnerships will enable authorities to work together to deliver information and services in a more citizen-focussed way, improving access and removing barriers to working between organisations;
£18.3 million of funding to support an enhanced programme of 18 e-Voting Pilots for the May 2003 elections, which are expected to involve up to 1.4 million electors; and
£8.7 million to provide a Local e-Government Support Programme, including work to be undertaken by the IDeA's Strategic Support Unit, and work to identify barriers to implementation particularly of the National Project building blocks, such as the National Land and Property Gazetteer.
DEFENCE
Army Trained Strength Figures (Correction)
The Minister of State, Ministry of Defence (Mr. Adam Ingram): A computer coding error has been identified in Army strength figures prepared by the Defence Analytical Services Agency (DASA) since 1 April 2001. From that date a number of untrained soldiers have been recorded against the trained Army strength. As a result Army strength figures previously announced and included in DASA publications have overstated the trained strength of the Army during that period. However, the combined strength of trained and untrained personnel has been correctly reported in all publications. It is the breakdown between trained and untrained strength that is affected by this problem.
As at 1 February 2003, whole Army strength (comprising UK Trained Army Personnel, Gurkhas and Full Time Reserve Service) stood at 101,750. Army recruitment and retention initiatives are producing
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gains to whole Army strength in line with forecasts. The trend over the past twelve months has been encouraging with Army strength increasing by over 1,300 trained personnel. A table comparing the figures issued in error with the corrected figures follows:
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Rounding to the nearest 10 introduced in May 2002. Due to the rounding methods used totals may not always equal the sum of the parts.
Defence Estates Stewardship Report 2002
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence (Dr. Lewis Moonie): The Ministry of Defence today launches its Stewardship Report on the Defence Estate 2002.
The Department published "In Trust & On Trust—A Strategy for the Defence Estate" in 2000 containing aims and objectives for the future management of the estate. One of the commitments made was that the MOD would report annually on its progress towards meeting these aims and the launch of the Stewardship Report on the Defence Estate 2002 continues that commitment.
Copies of the Report will be placed in both Libraries of the House.
Iraq: Force Level Adjustments
The Secretary of State for Defence (Mr. Geoffrey Hoon): As the pattern of coalition operations in Iraq changes, it will be possible for a number of units to proceed with other tasking or return to the United Kingdom.
I am delighted to confirm our participation in Exercise Flying Fish under the Five Power Defence Arrangements with forces from Australia, Malaysia, Singapore and New Zealand. HMS Marlborough and HMS Liverpool together with RFA Grey Rover have been released from operations in the Middle East and will now proceed to the Far East. The Government attache great importance to this long-planned deployment which sends a clear signal demonstrating our continuing commitment to the FPDA and the wider security of the region as a whole.
Other maritime assets will be released as appropriate, for return to the UK or onward deployment. On current plans, HMS Ark Royal with elements of her Group will
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shortly leave the Joint Operations Area and start their return passage to the UK. Significant maritime forces will remain in the Gulf to continue important continuing tasks, including mine clearance operations, logistic support and force protection.
We also continue to keep our requirements in the land and air environments under review. We envisage that a number of fixed wing and rotary aircraft can be withdrawn in the near future, starting with the return of Tornado F3 aircraft over the next few days. In the near term, the medical capacity in the region means that we can now withdraw 33 Field Hospital and RFA Argus. 34 Field Hospital and 202 Field Hospital (Volunteer) will remain in the Gulf region for the time being.
It is our policy to deploy personnel on operations for no longer than is necessary to achieve our military objectives. We will therefore continue to adjust our forces deployed to the Gulf as appropriate, withdrawing units whose tasks are complete, and in due course replacing those whose tasks continue. For example, elements of 101 Logistics Brigade will replace their counterparts in 102 Logistics Brigade during early May. We will inform the House of any major roulements. As previously stated, we have no plans to deploy significant additional forces.
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