§ Lord Cullen of Ashbourneasked Her Majesty's Government:
What further progress has been made towards establishing the Central Veterinary Laboratory and the Veterinary Medicines Directorate as executive agencies.
§ The Minister of State, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Baroness Trumpington)Further to my written reply on 26th February 1990{Official Report, col. 588), I am pleased to confirm that the Central Veterinary Laboratory and the Veterinary Medicines Directorate will become executive agencies with effect from 2nd April 1990.
The efficiency of both agencies will be judged primarily through cost recovery. Additional 1244WA performance measures relating to their objectives will also be used to measure operating efficiency and quality of service and will be developed through the agencies' corporate plans.
The financial targets for the CVL for 1990/91 will be:
- —100 per cent. recovery of full costs;
- —an overall efficiency gain of 1-5 per cent.;
- —a reduction of 1-5 per cent. on the 1989/90
- index of representative unit costs for diagnostic tests;
The final targets for the VMD for 1990/91 will be:
- —100 per cent. recovery of full costs;
- —an overall efficiency gain of 1-5 per cent.;
- —a reduction of 1-5 per cent. on unit costs for appropriate areas of licensing work and residue sampling.
The performance indicators for both agencies are set out in their framework documents, copies of which are being placed in the Library of the House.