§ Mr. Maplesasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what steps have been taken by his Department since May 1979 to improve its efficiency; what has been the result; what further steps are currently being taken to improve efficiency; what the results are expected to be; and what output criteria have been developed by his Department to help measure its efficiency.
§ Mr. JoplingMy Department has carried out a number of efficiency reviews in selected areas of the Department's work. Staff resources and financial arrangements are subject to regular systems of inspection and audit. Planned expenditure is rigorously examined under annual estimating procedures and in the scrutiny of departmental running costs. Since May 1979 staff numbers have fallen by 2,470 to 11,475 at 1 April 1984, a reduction of 17.5 per cent., and are planned to fall further. Further programmes of efficiency reviews, staff and audit inspections, coupled with the development of new systems of financial and personnel management, will ensure continuing improvements in efficiency. A report on the work undertaken by the Ministry in response to the financial management initiative was included in the White Paper "Financial Management in Government Departments" (Cmnd 9058); a further report will be included in a White Paper which the Government hope to publish later this month. The introduction of a 275W departmental system, known an MINIM, allows me to review systematically the objectives and results achieved alongside the resources deployed on the Ministry's various programmes of work.