Performance Indicators (Hansard, 12 June 2000)

§ Mr. Lock

A summary of the performance in 1998–1999 and 1997–98 for those agencies and executive NDPBs for which the Lord Chancellor is responsible is shown in the table. A more detailed explanation of their achievements can be found in the respective published Annual Reports. Finalised performance figures for last year will be published in the Annual Reports for 1999–2000 which will shortly be laid before Parliament.

Summary of performance against key performance indicators
	Target achieved or not achieved
	1998–99	1997–98
Agency/Key performance indicator
Court Service
The average percentage of Charter standards achieved	¹n/a	Achieved
The quality of service provided to Court users	Achieved	¹n/a
The percentage of administrative work in the civil courts dealt with within target time	Achieved	Achieved
The percentage of defendants in the Crown Court whose trial begins within the waiting time target	¹n/a	Achieved
The percentage of Crown Court cases that commence within target	Not Achieved	¹n/a
The unit cost of an item of originating process in the Crown Court	Achieved	Achieved
The unit cost of an item of originating process in the civil courts	Not Achieved	Not Achieved
The percentage of the cost of the civil courts recovered through fees	Achieved	Achieved
Public Trust Office
To bring to account x per cent. of receipts and payment transactions within turnaround targets	Achieved	Achieved
To pay on special rate accounts an annual rate at or above the average of the agreed comparator; and to pay at least 75 per cent. of that rate on basic rate accounts	Achieved	Achieved
That x per cent. of all funds which have a Dedicated Investment Portfolio will have a formal investment review	Achieved	¹n/a
On an annual basis, to ensure 85 per cent. of measured funds perform in line or better than their model based stock market indices	²n/a	Not Achieved
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	²n/a	Not Achieved
To achieve 98 per cent. of Charter Standards	Not Achieved	Not Achieved
The unit per cost to be £x	Not Achieved	Achieved
The recovery of full costs	Achieved	Achieved

522W

Summary of performance against key performance indicators
	Target achieved or not achieved
	1998–99	1997–98
Key performance indicator
Public Record Office
Reduction in unit cost of selecting and preserving the public records per metre	Achieved	¹n/a
Reduction in unit cost of giving access to records per information transaction	Achieved	¹n/a
To reduce the backlog of records in departments reported as being over 30 years old and awaiting review	Achieved	Achieved
To increase the proportion of records stored to the preservation and environmental standards recommended by BS 5454	Achieved	Achieved
To reduce the running costs of the Office's support services as a proportion of overall running costs	Achieved	Achieved
To meet Charter Standard targets for answering letters, delivering documents to users and reprographic services	Achieved	¹n/a
In user satisfaction surveys: to achieve assessments of 'excellent' on 56 per cent. of survey forms returned	Achieved	¹n/a
Performance in achieving specific milestone targets
To carry out the agency review of the Office and to implement its agreed recommendations to the required timetable	¹n/a	Achieved
To increase revenue by 13 per cent. against the 1996–97 target	¹n/a	Achieved
To extend the Office's opening hours by 29 per cent.	¹n/a	Achieved
To implement the recommendations of the Scoping Study of records management in government to the timetable established	Achieved	¹n/a
To increase revenue by 3.3 per cent. against the 1997–98 target	Achieved	¹n/a
To produce a new edition of the PRO Guide	Achieved	¹n/a
HM Land Registry
Percentage return on average capital employed	Achieved	Achieved
External Financing Limit	Achieved	Achieved
Cost per unit in real terms	Achieved	Achieved
Cost per unit in cash terms	Achieved	Achieved
Percentage of office copy and official search applications processed within two working days and	Achieved	Achieved
Percentage of office copies and official search applications processed within three working days	Achieved	¹n/a
Time taken to process all pre-completion applications	²n/a	Achieved
Percentage of all registrations processed within 25 working days	Not Achieved	Achieved
Percentage of registrations processed free of any error	Achieved	Achieved

523W

Summary of performance against key performance indicators
	Target achieved or not achieved
	1998–99	1997–98
Percentage of customers responding to the Annual Survey who perceive the accuracy of registrations to be excellent or good	Achieved	Achieved
Percentage of computerised titles in the land register	Achieved	Achieved
Percentage of computerised title plans in the land register	Not Achieved	Achieved
Number of scanned pages of filed documents (millions)	Achieved	Achieved
Bring into force provisions of the Land Registration Act 1997 introducing new 'triggers' for compulsory first registration	¹n/a	Not Achieved
Implementation of concessionary fees under the Land Registration Act 1997	Achieved	¹n/a
Number of Direct Access account holders at the end of the year	Not Achieved	Achieved
Implementation and evaluation of the National Land Information System Pilot	Achieved	¹n/a
Executive NDPBs/Commentary on performance in 1997–98 and 1998–99³
Legal Aid Board⁴
The Board has 17 operational performance targets. In 1997–98 it met or exceeded 15 of its targets. In 1998–99, the Board's performance fell slightly and only 10 targets were met or exceeded. This drop in performance was expected as work in each of the Board's area offices was disrupted during the phased implementation of the Board's new computer strategy, the Corporate Information System (CIS). Prior to implementation, each area office was meeting or exceeding the targets. Following the successful implementation of CIS, performance recovered and stabilised. New and more challenging targets for some types of work were set for 1999–2000.
¹ Target not applicable to this year
² Not applicable as target discontinued
³ Only active executive NDPBs are listed. Advisory NDPBs are not set Key Performance Indicators in the same way
⁴ The Legal Services Commission replaced the Legal Aid Board on 1 April 2000