§ Mr. Peter Bottomleyasked the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what increase in efficiency would be gained by transferring RAF agency work from Mottingham to Harrogate;
(2) what are the main causes of delay in coding items at the Defence Codification Authority;
(3) when the Defence Codification Authority staff side was consulted about the proposed movement of the RAF agency work from Mottingham to Harrogate; and if he will make a statement;
(4) what significant savings will result from moving the RAF agency work from Mottingham to Harrogate; and how the savings or costs compare with establishing the agency in Ministry of Defence property now vacant in the London borough of Greenwich;
(5) if he will bring all codification work for the Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force together under the control of the Director, Defence Codification Authority in the London borough of Greenwich.
§ Dr. GilbertAfter careful examination of an alternative proposal that all codifica244W tion work for all Services should be carried out by the Defence Codification Agency, it was concluded some years ago that the balance of advantage lay in dealing with the day-to-day work of codification as part of the Services supply management organisations. The DCA would remain responsible for policy, training, technical procedures, a national data bank and international matters. The transfer of work from Mottingham to Harrogate is in accordance with these conclusions.
This transfer should produce a close relationship between the supply management and codification functions, and lead to increased efficiency. More specifically, collocation under a single overall management should lead to better control of priorities, fewer queries, greater speed in dealing with queries, less time lost in the exchange of information by post, and a more flexible response to Service requirements. Savings from the transfer of functions to an RAF agency side by side with the RAF supply management organisation are estimated to be over £100,000 annually. The greater part of these savings would be lost if the RAF agency were located at a distance from Harrogate. A further £26,000 annually is expected to be saved by transferring work from DCA Mottingham to the nearby Army Cataloguing Agency at Woolwich.
The process of consultation with the staff on the future organisation and location of the DCA began in January of this year when comments were invited on a consultative document. Comments were received some six months later and a further consultative document was sent to the Staff Side of the Ministry of Defence Whitley Council on 1st November 1978.