§ Mr. John GreenwayTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement on the progress of the "next steps" initiative in his Department.
§ Mr. LilleyOn 5 October, I launched the national engineering laboratory as the ninth executive agency within the DTI. The launch of NEL means that more than half my Department's staff now work in executive agencies. As a result, the DTI is able to improve further its ability to deliver cost-effective services.
I am placing a copy of the NEL framework document in the Library. The document explains that the primary aim for NEL is to attain commercial viability by 1994–95. I have also set NEL a number of efficiency targets as follows:
to recover its full economic costs through arm's-length contracts from customers by 1994–95.non-DTI income as a proportion of full economic cost to grow by 12 per cent. in 1991–92 compared with 1990–91, and to continue to grow so that by 1994–95 two thirds of NEL's total income is non-DTI.fee-earning hours on arm's-length contracts as a proportion of all hours to increase by 10 per cent. in 1991–92 compared with 1990–91.5 per cent. increase in average fee-earning hours on arm's-length contracts as a proportion of engineer hours possibly available in 1991–92 compared with 1990–91. Ratio to reach 80 per cent. by 1994–95.to reduce average per capita office space occupied by 25 per cent. in 1991–92 compared with 1990–91.to complete development of a commercial accounting system by 1 October 1991.