§ Ms SouthworthTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will lay before Parliament the Annual Report for the Forensic Science Service. [52418]
§ Mr. StrawI have today laid before Parliament copies of the Forensic Science Service (FSS) Annual Report and Accounts for 1997–98.
The Report and Accounts details the Agency's performance against its targets. The FSS continues to grow at a significant pace, and efficiency savings are at the highest level since it became an agency in 1991. The FSS passes on these improvements to customers through
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Certified normal accommodation by prison Prison Actual 1997–98 Forecast 1998–99 Forecast 1999–00 Forecast 2000–01 Forecast 2001–02 Acklington 662 682 782 782 782 Agecroft — — 233 800 800 Albany 436 436 436 436 436 Aldington 145 145 145 145 145 Altcourse 150 600 600 600 600 Ashwell 444 484 484 484 484 Askham Grange 130 132 133 133 133 Aylesbury 318 398 438 438 438 Bedford 343 352 352 352 352 Belmarsh 840 840 840 840 840 Birmingham 719 734 737 737 737 Blakenhurst 647 647 647 647 647 Blantyre House 120 120 120 120 120 Blundeston 416 424 424 424 424 Brinsford 477 477 477 477 477 Bristol 489 489 489 489 489 Brixton 720 720 720 720 720 Brockhill 159 159 159 159 159 Buckley Hall 350 350 350 350 350 Bullingdon 718 773 773 773 773 Bullwood Hall 131 140 140 140 140 Camphill 468 463 470 470 470 real price reductions and higher investment in both research and development and infrastructure to improve the quality of products and services.
The achievement on four main indications was as follows:
Full cost recoveryThe target was exceeded. The Operating surplus before exceptional items after interest was £3 million, representing a recovery of costs of 105.3 per cent. This is sufficient to recover brought forward accumulated deficit of £2 million;Unit cost £80.91The target was exceeded. The unit cost achieved was £79.88, representing an underlying efficiency improvement of 5.8 per cent. (against a target of 3.9 per cent.);Achieve 90 per cent. of agreed delivery dates;72 per cent. of agreed delivery dates was achieved. The increased volume of business made it impossible to achieve this target. The number of delivered jobs was well ahead of expectations, but increase in capacity is in hand to meet future customer demands within the target times; andMaintain quality accreditation (NAMAS M10 and BS EN ISO 9001)Accreditation was maintained and extended to other scientific areas.The total number of delivered jobs—which represent individual parts of a case—showed a greater than predicted increase of 28 per cent. Measures were put in place to minimise the impact on turnaround times.
The speed of delivery of DNA jobs will be further improved by the recruitment of more scientific staff and the new DNA unit at Huntingdon.