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Written Ministerial Statements

Thursday 23 June 2005

CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS

Freedom of Information Act

The Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs (Ms Harriet Harman): My noble Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State has made the following written ministerial statement.

"Today I have deposited copies of The Freedom of Information Act 2000—Statistics on Implementation in Central Government January to March 2005 in the Libraries of both Houses".

This is the first quarterly bulletin produced by DCA monitoring of the performance of central Government and associated bodies under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Public Guardianship Office

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs (Bridget Prentice): My noble Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State has made the following written ministerial statement.

"The following list sets out the key performance targets that have been set for the Public Guardianship Office for 2005–06.

KPI 1: To increase the satisfaction of its customers in the delivery of its services as measured by customer surveys throughout the year.

Targets:

To achieve an overall satisfaction rating of 75 per cent.

To reduce dissatisfaction amongst each of the PGO's different customer groups by 10 per cent.

KPI 2: To increase the proportion of effective visits by the Lord Chancellor's visitors.

Targets:

New clients

To visit all new clients within six months of the order appointing the receiver being sent and to initiate any necessary action arising from the visit within one calendar month.

To visit 10 per cent. of clients within 12–18 months of a short order direction.

Existing clients

To undertake visits to existing clients as follows:

10 per cent. of clients within 18 months of a case transfer direction;

annually where the chief executive of the PGO is the receiver;

a repeat visit after three years where the receiver is still in place;

a repeat visit when necessary based on recommendations made by a Lord Chancellor's visitor; and

other visits as directed by the Court of Protection or requested by the PGO.

 
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In total, the PGO anticipates that these criteria will result in approximately 9,500 visits.

Effective visits

To achieve 80 per cent. effective visits over the year. An effective visit is one where:

the visit is carried out within six months of the request being made; and

recommended action is initiated within one calendar month of the visit.

To increase the sample of telephone interviews with receivers or persons present at the visit from 10 per cent. to 20 per cent. by July 2005.

KPI 3: To maintain an effective system to collect and review accounts, and use this process to review the case management regime to ensure that it is meeting the needs of each customer and client.

Targets:

To collect 60 per cent. of accounts, in all cases where an account is properly due, within two calendar months of the accounting end date; 85 per cent. within four calendar months of the accounting end date; and 95 per cent. within six calendar months of the accounting end date.

To complete the review of, or to have requested further information for, 100 per cent. of accounts within 20 working days of receipt.

To complete the review of 75 per cent. of furthered on accounts (i.e. those where further information is needed) within 30 working days of the request for additional information.

No case will have two accounts outstanding unless the Court of Protection has directed otherwise.

KPI 4: To deliver an improved service to clients.

Targets:

Correspondence

To respond to:

60 per cent. of correspondence within five working days of receipt;

80 per cent. of correspondence within 10 working days of receipt; and

98 per cent of correspondence within 15 working days of receipt.

Release of funds

To work with receivers to ensure they have access to funds to support the client for a year at a time. Where requests for release of funds are made over and above this, PGO will give directions to the Court Funds Office (CFO), or dispatch directions to the receiver within five working days in 80 per cent. of cases and within 10 working days in 95 per cent. of cases; or explain why it cannot release funds.

Applications for Receivership

Providing it has all the appropriate forms and information required in support of an application, PGO will list a case for hearing and notify the applicant within 10 working days in 95 per cent. of cases.

The hearing date will be within 35 working days of the date the hearing was listed in 95 per cent. of cases.

After the hearing, PGO will notify applicants of the outcome of the hearing and request any further information the Court requires within five working days in 95 per cent. of cases.

PGO will issue orders within 10 working days in 95 per cent. of cases where all information and documents have been received.

 
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Closing cases

Where a client dies and PGO has a complete application for final directions, PGO will prepare and dispatch directions to transfer assets to personal representatives within 15 working days in 80 per cent. of cases, within 20 working days in 98 per cent. of cases.

Enduring Powers of Attorney

PGO will register and return 98 per cent. of correctly lodged EPAs, where there are no objections, within five working days of the end of the statutory waiting period.

Accuracy of Orders

PGO will ensure that the level of orders returned with errors is less than 3 per cent.

Case Transfer to Short Order Regime

In 85 per cent. of cases identified for consideration for a short order regime, the case will be referred to the Court of Protection within 15 working days for a decision to be made. Where the court directs a transfer, initiating action will be effected within 10 days of the decision in 95 per cent. of cases.

KPI 5: To demonstrate improvements in efficiency in value for money terms by meeting a unit cost target for undertaking each case in each of the three business streams as follows:

Targets:

Enduring Powers of Attorney—£114 per case;

Appointing and Supervising Receivers—£540 per case; and

Receivership of Last Resort—£8,000 per case."

DEFENCE

Sexual Harassment (Armed Forces)

The Secretary of State for Defence (John Reid): The Chief of the Defence Staff and I have today signed an agreement with the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) setting out measures to prevent and deal with sexual harassment in the armed forces.

We have been in discussion with the Equal Opportunities Commission for several months about this issue. The agreement is a result of these very positive discussions and commits us to review our policies and procedures in a rigorous time-frame

Our policies already make clear that harassment and bullying of any kind will not be tolerated. Nevertheless, we accept that cases of sexual harassment do occur in the armed forces and that more needs to be done to address this issue. Accordingly, we look forward to working with the Commission to achieve the outcomes and targets set out in the agreement.

A copy of the agreement will be deposited in the Library of the House and it will be published on the Department's internet site.

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