Performance Targets (Hansard, 30 April 1996)

§ Mr. Jonathan Evans

The following tables set out the key performance targets that the Lord Chancellor has set for the Court Service, Her Majesty's Land Registry, the Public Record Office and the Public Trust Office for 1996–97.

Court Service Key performance targets 1996–97
	Indicator	Target
Quality of service:	1. Percentage of courts and offices meeting all charter for court users standards	95 per cent.
Supreme court:	2. Percentage of administrative process dealt with within target time	95 per cent.
Crown court:	3. Percentage of defendants committed for trail waiting 16 weeks or less	75 per cent.

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Court Service Key performance targets 1996–97
	Indicator	Target
County courts:	4. Percentage of administrative process dealt with within target time	92 per cent.
Enforcement:	5. Number of warrants paid as a percentage of correctly directed warrants	70 per cent.
Unit costs:	6. Unit cost of a productive courtroom hour (Crown court)	£522.55
	7. Unit cost of an hour of administrative work as measured by the business management system (county courts)	£49.92
Cost recovery:	8. Percentage of the cost of civil courts recovered	86 per cent.

Fuller details of the agency's targets are given in its business plan which is available from the Court Service Headquarters.

Her Majesty's Land Registry Executive Agency Key performance targets 1996–97
Indicator	Target
Financial
Return on average capital employed¹ (ROCE):	3 per cent.
External financing limit:	£0
Efficiency
Cost per unit in real terms³	£27.84—a 3 per cent. reduction over the 1995–96 target of £28.70
Cost per unit in cash terms:	£30.82
Productivity
Unit output per post (per day):	3.34 units—a 4.1 per cent. increase over the 1995–96 target of 3.202 units
Citizen's charter standards Percentage of pre-completion applications handled in two working days at every district land registry:	Not less than 98.5 per cent.
Average processing time for post-completion applications at every district land registry:	Where no requisitions arise, no more than 15 working days.
Percentage of registrations handled free of error at every district land registry:	Not less than 98 per cent.
Development of land registration
Number of computerised titles:	To increase the number of registered titles in computerised format to 14 million.
Number of title plans:	To increase the number of title plans in computerised format to 0.3 million.
Number of account holders using direct computer access at end of year:	400 account holders
¹ ROCE below 6 per cent. reflects agreement with HM Treasury to apply surplus income generated in 1993–95, when ROCE exceeded 25 per cent. in each year to fee reductions in 1996–99.
² The real term unit cost in the base year, of 1992–93 was £30.65. Fuller details of the registry's performance targets are given in its business plan, which is available from Her Majesty's Land Registry.

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Public Record Office Key performance targets 1996–97
Indicator	Target
1. Efficiency
Unit costs of key activities:
(a) record accessions	Reduce by 3.4 per cent. to £2.99
(b) providing record storage space per linear metre	Reduce by 14.6 per cent. to £60.70
(c) making documents available to users per document	Reduce by 0.9 per cent. to £5.99
(d) providing census reader services per reader visit	Reduce by 4.86 per cent. to £4.03
(e) providing document reader services per reader visit	Limit increase to 7.01 per cent., i.e. to £41.54
(f) providing remote user information services per contact	Reduce by 3.79 per cent. to £42.20
Backlog of records reported by Departments as being over 30 years old and awaiting review	Reduce by 1, 000 metres
The timely destruction of records not worthy of preservation	Departments to have in place key features of records management, as specified in the PRO Manual of Records Administration
Provision of acceptable storage conditions, i.e. meeting the preservation and environmental standards recommended by BS 5454: 1989 Recommendations for storage and exhibition of archival documents BSI, 1989.	Increase the proportion of records stored to the standards from 87.75 per cent. to 87.85 per cent.
Management efficiency in running support services and projects	Reduce the running costs of the office's support services as a proportion of overall running costs from 11.2 per cent. to 9.8 per cent.
2. Quality of service
Citizen's charter standards	Achieve all charter standard targets¹
3. Effectiveness
Performance in achieving specified milestones towards strategic objectives	(i) complete new Public Record Office project at Kew
	(ii) review operation of the public records system
	(iii) increase revenue by 10 per cent.
¹ Subject to specified modifications during period of major building works and moves of records.

Fuller details of the office's targets are given in its business plan, which is available from the Public Record Office.

Public Trust Office Executive Agency Key performance targets 1996–97
Indicator	Target
1. To carry out accounting transactions within target times	To bring to account at least 98 per cent. of receipts and payments transactions within turnaround targets
2. To achieve investment targets	(a) to pay annually not less than the rate provided by the average of a model set of comparators for special and basic rate at 75 per cent. of special rate
	(b) on an annual basis to ensure that 85 per cent. of all measured funds perform in line or better than their model based on stock market indices

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Public Trust Office Executive Agency Key performance targets 1996–97
Indicator	Target
	(c) on a three-year rolling basis to ensure that 80 per cent. of all measured funds perform in line or better than their model based on stock market indices
3. To achieve Charter Standards	To achieve 98 per cent. of charter standards
4. To achieve unit costs in activity areas	To reduce overall unit costs so that the target for 1996–97 will be at least 2.75 per cent. lower than the target for 1995–96 (adjusted for inflation)
5. Percentage of full costs recovered	To ensure that 100 per cent. of full costs are recovered

Fuller details of the office's performance targets are given in its business plan, which is available from the Public Trust Office.