Companies House

HC Deb 20 March 1997 vol 292 cc781-2W

Mr. Jacques Arnold

To ask the President of the Board of Trade what targets he has set Companies House executive agency for 1997–98. [21659]

Mr. Lang

I have set Companies House the following targets for 1997–98to make 95 per cent. of statutory documents available for public inspection within a maximum of five working days of receipt in Companies House; to achieve, on average, a monthly compliance rate for accounts submitted of 95 per cent.; to ensure that a minimum of 93 per cent. of fiche provided to customers are error free; to ensure that there is a minimum of 97 per cent. error free work in current processing; to answer 90 per cent. of incoming telephone calls within 20 seconds; to reduce the real unit costs of registration activity by 3 per cent. compared to the outturn in 1996–97; and to achieve, taking one year with another, a 6 per cent. average annual rate of return based on the operating surplus expressed as a percentage of average net assets.

In addition, I expect the chief executive of the agency to continue to reply within 10 working days to all letters from Members of Parliament delegated to him for reply.

Mr. Morgan

To ask the President of the Board of Trade what assessment he has made of Companies House performance in answering the telephone inquiry service within the first six rings; and what impact privatisation of the telephone inquiry service in July 1996 had on the achievement of the target. [21335]

Mr. John M. Taylor

Companies House central enquiry unit and postal search operations were contracted out in July 1996 and new telephone equipment was installed in October 1996. This has led to the number of calls presented to operators increasing by 80 per cent. The contractors are now answering over 13,000 calls per week, 30 per cent. more than before the contract was awarded. Companies House is taking steps to ensure the contractor employs sufficient resources to answer all calls within the target of 90 per cent. of calls within 20 seconds or six rings.

The performance against the telephone answering target, as for other targets, will be assessed at year end and reported in the annual report and accounts for Companies House for 1996–97.