HC Deb 09 May 1991 vol 190 cc561-2W
Mr. Nicholls

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what targets have been set for the Companies House executive agency.

Mr. Redwood

In making available information about companies, Companies House promotes enterprise and contributes substantially to open and informed markets. Executive agency status has produced very significant improvements in efficiency and the standard of service provided to Companies House customers. Details of performance against the agency's original two-year targets will be available when the Companies House annual report is published.

The chief executive of Companies House has been set the following quality of service and financial performance targets:

  1. i. To make all documents available to searchers within a maximum of five working days of receipt;
  2. ii. To increase the compliance rate for annual returns and accounts to 85 per cent. by June 1992., and 90 per cent. by June 1994;
  3. iii. To provide a two-hour search service for all customers from April 1991, and to provide a one-hour search service to all customers by April 1994;
  4. iv. To reduce real unit costs by 1 per cent. in 1991–92.

The achievement of these stretching targets would represent a further significant improvement in the quality of Companies House services, as well as building on the agency's improved financial performance. For example, a target of processing documents within a maximum of five working days compares with an average performance of 25 working days in 1988–89, and the original target to ensure that by April 1991 documents were processed within an average of 18 working days.

Additional financial performance targets will be set when Companies House achieves trading fund status.