§ Mr. Thurnhamasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what further plans he has for controlling resources in his Department following the report, "Financial Management in Government Departments".
§ The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Mr. Michael Jopling)The White Paper mentioned by my hon. Friend includes a summary of the Ministry's plans for improving the management and control of resources. Much detailed planning work is going on to put these systems into practice; in particular, volume trials of our new management accounting information system will start next week.
§ Mr. ThurnhamWill my right hon. Friend say how the new systems are helping him to manage the resources of his Ministry more efficiently?
§ Mr. JoplingMy ministerial colleagues and I have benefited greatly from the returns made to us under the management information in MAFF system, known as MINIM. We have also benefited from discussions with officials on those returns. We have identified various areas where follow-up work needs to be done, and we shall be publishing the 1984 MINIM returns very shortly.