§ Mr. David NicholsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement about agency status for the Hydrographic Office at Taunton.
§ Mr. Tom KingOn 6 April, I will be launching the Hydrographic Office as the Ministry of Defence's first defence support agency. The agency comprises the Hydrographic Office at Taunton and the associated chart depots at Portsmouth, Devonport and Rosyth naval bases. The Hydrographer of the Navy, Rear-Admiral J. A. L. Myres, has been appointed the agency's chief executive.
As I said in the House on 18 October 1989, columns 154-55, defence support agencies will be run on "next steps" lines but will remain within the defence chain of command. Such agencies complement my Department's new management strategy, under which I am to secure better value for the defence budget through closer alignment of financial accountability with line management responsibilities, and by a system of performance reviews. The establishment of the Hydrographic Office as a defence support agency is a significant landmark in this process.
The aim of the Hydrographic Office has always been, and will continue to be, to supply hydrographic, oceanographic and other such information to the Royal Navy, while also offering unclassified charts and publications to the merchant marine and other non-naval users. The professional standards which have been the hallmark of success for the Hydrographic Office for nearly two centuries will continue to be upheld. The greater freedom and flexibility now granted to the chief executive will provide him with new opportunities to build on this firm base.
Accordingly, the chief executive has been set the following key targets:
To improve the quality of service by reducing, within the year 1990–91, the time taken to promulgate all immediate 834W dangers by radio navigation warnings from 24 to 20 hours; increasing the number of new charts and new editions by at least 5 per cent. per annum; reducing by 70 charts per annum the imperial unit charts through modernisation.To increase the revenue from commercial sales by 10 per cent. over 5 years.To increase productivity by an average of at least 1 per cent. per annum.To reduce gross operating costs by £100,000 in 1990–91.By these and other improvements in performance, to achieve an overall increase in efficiency by an average of 3.5 per cent. per annum over the years 1991–92 to 1994–95.To develop, within 1990–91, an improved system of output measurement so that progress against this overall target can be accurately assessed.To develop, within 1990–91, improved management information and management accounting systems.