Armed Forces Personnel Administration Agency (Hansard, 18 March 1999)

§ Mr. Doug Henderson

[holding answer 24 February 1999]This is a matter for the Chief Executive of the Armed Forces Personnel Administration Agency. I have asked the Chief Executive to write to the hon. Member.

Letter from C. J. Boyle to Mr. Mike Hancock, dated 18 March 1999: Further to your Questions to the Secretary of State for Defence about the Armed Forces Personnel Administration Agency (AFPAA), these matters fall within the Chief Executive's responsibility. However, as he is currently away from office, I am replying on his behalf. Before I address your specific questions, you may find it useful to be aware that AFPAA was formed on 1 April 1997, following recommendations made by Sir Michael Bett in his report of March 1995 of the Independent Review of the Armed Forces' Manpower, Career and Remuneration Structures. A copy of the "Ben Report" may be found in the Library of the House. The report of the Independent Review recommended that a Defence Agency should be set up to manage Service personnel administration (but not personnel management) and tasked with 801W progressively introducing unified systems and eventually an integrated computer system. The report also concluded that this area offered significant scope for Private Finance Initiative (PFI). Amalgamating single Service pay, pensions and personnel administration functions into a tri-Service organisation in the first year of the Agency's operation, 1997/98, was an ambitious undertaking and I am pleased to report that this was undertaken successfully. Similarly, the parallel negotiation and implementation of a service based PFI agreement with EDS has also been completed successfully. The Agency's performance against its Key Targets must, therefore, be seen in this context. Of those three Key targets that were not met in full, I hope that the following information provides a more detailed position: Key Target 2—Accuracy of Personnel records and Liabilities Data. Determine measures to set the baseline of completeness and accuracy of the record of service by Mar 1998—Partially Achieved. This Key Target relates to the accuracy of personal and job related data held on the personnel administration IT systems maintained and developed by the Agency. I regret that this Key Target could not be completed within the timescale due to the pressures of other higher priority tasks. The Key Target was, however, carried forward into 1998. A work programme is being initiated with the 3 Services who have principal responsibility for the input, ownership and validation of this data. Key Target 5—Customer Satisfaction. Develop systematic and objective methods for measuring customer satisfaction in consultation with the Owner and customers by March 1998—Partially Achieved. Whilst plans for measuring customer satisfaction were prepared during 1997/98, it was necessary to agree these with the Agency's public/private partner EDS. As the partnership did not become effective until 1 Jan 98, and with the pressure of other priority tasks, it was not possible to undertake this work before March 1998. The inaugural customer satisfaction survey was, however, completed in December 1998 and follow-up performance improvement plans are currently under development. Key Target 7—Efficiency Develop cost ratios and implement appropriate measures for benchmarking efficiency for AFPAA's services in core personnel administration by March 1998—Partially Achieved. This Key Target relates to the establishment of detailed costs for services delivered by the Agency. Whilst cost ratios were developed in 1997 during the process of establishing AFPAA's PFI contract, other higher priority tasks meant that efficiency benchmarking was not achieved before March 1998. A plan for benchmarking AFPAA services has been produced during 1998/99. However, the Key Target was not carried forward to 1998/99, being replaced by an efficiency measure to reduce unit costs by 3%. Progress against Key targets is monitored on behalf of the Defence Secretary by the Agency's Owner, Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff (Programmes and Personnel), through the medium of the Owner's Advisory Board, which meets at least three times a year. AFPAA's performance during its first year of operation was reported in it's 1997/98 Annual Report. This report was published on 21 July 98 and copies were placed in the House Libraries. The report was not laid before Parliament as the Agency had not received a Treasury Accounts Direction at that time. Finally, the total cost of producing of the Agency's Annual Report was £5,919 for 750 copies, equating to £7.89 per copy.