HC Deb 30 April 1993 vol 223 cc555-6W
Mrs. Gillan

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what targets he has set for the executive agencies in his Department.

Mr. Kenneth Carlisle

My right hon. Friend has set the following key targets for 1993–94 for the six Department of Transport executive agencies. Management objectives and performance indicators, where appropriate to the agency's business, are contained in the agencies' business plans; copies of which will be placed in the Library, with the following exceptions: the vehicle inspectorate (whose plan has been held over during work on the future status of the inspectorate, but which will be available shortly); DVOIT, and the Transport Research Laboratory, both of whose plans are commercial in confidence and will not be published.

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency's key targets are to meet, or better, an overall efficiency improvement of 2.5 per cent.; deliver 95 per cent. of ordinary driver licence cases to customers within 13 working days of receipt, not to exceed 15 working days in any month, and deliver medical cases within 25 working days of receipt; deliver 95 per cent. of vocational licence cases within 11 working days of receipt, not to exceed 13 working days in any month, and deliver medical cases within 35 working days of receipt; deliver 95 per cent. of first provisional licence cases within 12 working days of receipt, not to exceed 14 working days in any month; deliver 95 per cent. of changes to vehicle registration documents to customers within 13 working days of receipt, not to exceed 15 working days in any month; deliver 95 per cent. of registration documents for new vehicles to customers within 15 working days of receipt, not to exceed 20 working days in any month; answer 80 per cent. of telephone inquiries within 30 seconds; deliver answers to 90 per cent. of written inquiries within eight working days of receipt; complete successfully 445,000 VED enforcement cases by imposition of penalties.

The Driving Standards Agency's key targets are to achieve, or better, unit costs of £24.06 for car tests; £56.01 for bus, coach and lorry tests; and £37.40 for overall approved driving instructor register activities; cover full costs with income from customers; achieve a national average waiting time of no more than six weeks for car tests and no more than four weeks for motorcycle, bus, coach and lorry tests; and answer 90 per cent. of telephone calls to booking offices within one minute.

DVOIT's key targets are to fulfil service level agreements with its customers; achieve, across the customer base, an average assessment by customers which is at least satisfactory as measured in the customer satisfaction survey; balance business costs with income; constrain prices for existing tariffed services within an RPI minus 5 per cent. ceiling; achieve a return on investment of 6 per cent. for business with Government customers and 8 per cent. for others; provide the necessary inputs to the privatisation process within the timetable approved by the privatisation project group.

The Transport Research Laboratory's key targets are to cover full costs with income from customers while meeting the net control total in supply estimates; achieve a minimum net revenue per person year of £45,000; ensure direct fee earning costs as a percentage of total operating costs are greater than 55 per cent.; achieve average staff utilisation in research resource centres of at least 1,300 hours per year on direct fee-earning work; and 90 per cent. of project outputs to be assessed by customers as good or very good.

The Vehicle Certification Agency's key targets are to achieve, or better, a unit cost of £87.38; cover full costs with income from customers while keeping within the net control total in supply estimates; technically clear and issue approval certificates within nine days on average for 90 per cent. of system and component approvals, and within 20 days on average for 90 per cent. of whole vehicle approvals.

The vehicle inspectorate trading fund's key targets are to make a gross efficiency improvement of 5 per cent. as measured by the agency's aggregate cost efficiency index; break even while achieving a 6 per cent. return on capital employed; achieve an HGV/PSV test error rate of less than 0.47 per cent.; achieve an HGV/PSV test exemption rate of less than 0.01 per cent., achieved an average turnaround time of 1.4 days on MOT documentation, produce 95 per cent. of interim or completed traffic enforcement operator licence reports for traffic commissioners within four weeks, except in specific cases where a different deadline has been agreed.