§ Mr. Yeoasked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether he will make a statement about the efficiency scrutiny into the Department of the Environment (Northern Ireland) stores system.
§ Mr. ButlerI have arranged for a copy of the report of this scrutiny to be placed in the Library. This has been a most valuable scrutiny and our deliberations on its proposals have been aided by a report by Deloitte, Haskins and Sells on purchasing arrangements by the Department of the Environment (Northern Ireland). I endorse, in particular, the main themes of the scrutiny that the number of stores and stock levels should be considerably reduced and that there should be computerisation of stock control and the stores accounting system. The implementation date for the new stores system will be April 1985. The reorganisation will be based on 10 single-service divisional stores for the roads and water services with a further review of the structure in 1988 to explore the possibility of movement to multi-functional stores. The number of posts which will be saved will be determined when final decisions have been taken on the staffing required for recording the use of stores materials and monitoring the receipt, issue and usage of materials at operational levels, but we anticipate that staff savings will be significant. There will be a reduction in the value of stock held of £2.5 million by April 1985; further savings estimated at £2.2 million are expected in subsequent years. Additionally, savings in premises, running costs and overheads are estimated to be in the region of £1 million per annum.