§ Mr. Wainwrightasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what accounting developments are being made in his Department to give linemanagers better information about the cost and condition of the capital assets they are managing.
§ Mr. Patrick JenkinUnder the Property Repayment Services (PRS) system introduced in April 1983, the Property Services Agency raises charges on occupants of the civil estate which cover market rents, maintenance and other running costs. The system is being progressively refined in order to reflect as closely as possible the opportunity costs of departments' occupation of the civil estate. To support PRS, the agency has recently implemented a new computerprised system of estate records, which gives its estates staff access to a centralised property data base.
To assist control of expenditure on maintenance of properties, a micro computer system has now been installed in all the agency's district works offices, and trials of enhanced property-based budgetary control arrangements are under way. A new system of regular building inspections has also been instituted as a basis for recording future maintenance requirements and their relative priority.
Further improvements in management information will form part of the longer-term strategy adopted by PSA for the implementation of information technology throughout the agency.