§ Lord Fanshawe of Richmondasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether the report of the efficiency scrutiny of the Directly Employed Labour of the Historic Buildings & Monuments Directorate of the Scottish Development Department has been received.
§ The Minister of State, Scottish Office (Lord Sanderson of Bowden)The report was submitted at the end of February. Copies are being placed in the Library of both Houses today. I have agreed that copies should be circulated to the appropriate bodies with a view to starting the necessary consultations on the recommendations contained in the report.
The report recognises that the primary task of the directly employed labour is the conservation of historic masonry and that the workforce deploys specialist skills and experience of a high order with an impressive dedication to its task. The report suggests that to give value for money the directorate should continue to develop its existing sophisticated management information system, increase the amount of work contracted out and continually question how the existing service can be improved.
The main recommendations for obtaining better value for money are: the integration of maintenance expenditure and DEL staff costs in a single vote; extend contracting out of non-historic work and reduce DEL numbers; review the present estate of monuments against modern criteria of the merits and the liabilities of each site; achieve further savings on goods and services purchased; change various practices, set up targets and establish quantified performance indicators for the DEL force; re-assess the geographic working areas of each DEL depot; install an integrated computer network to give area access to the management information system.
Implementation of the recommendations could lead to a reduction in annual costs of at least £300,000 per annum after three years. The recommendations will be carefully considered in the light of the consultations about to be undertaken.