§ Mr. Don FosterTo ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many targets have been agreed between her Department and (i) local authorities and (ii) other bodies apart from her own agencies and non-departmental bodies since May 1997. [99470]
§ Mr. StringerMy Department has not set any targets directly to local authorities. Following the publication of the anti-drugs PSA, the UK Anti-Drugs Co-ordinator published his first annual report and plan which set out 43 targets for the Government to meet in relation to drugs activities and these are included in the relevant organisations' plans.
162WTargets resulting from the reports published by the Social Exclusion Unit are included within the relevant departments' PSAs; for example the Department of Health for the reduction in the rates of under 18 conceptions by one half by 2010.
My Department has also set seven targets in relation to commitments made in the Modernising Government White Paper—for example, that 50 per cent. of the dealings are capable of electronic delivery by 2005 and 100 per cent. by 2008 (building on the target set in 1997 by the Prime Minister that 25 per cent. of Government dealings should be dealt with in this way by 2002). Other targets include tackling the under-representation of women, people from ethnic minority backgrounds, and people with disabilities within the Senior Civil Service; on the acquisition of Investors in People status by other departments, and of National Vocational Council qualifications by individual civil servants.