§ Mr. GillTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what further progress has been made towards establishing the central veterinary laboratory and the veterinary medicines directorate as executive agencies; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. MacleanFurther to the Minister's written reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Ludlow (Mr. Gill) on 26 February 1990 at column69, I am pleased to confirm that 364W the central veterinary laboratory and the veterinary medicines directorate will become executive agencies with effect from 2 April 1990.
The efficiency of both agencies will be judged primarily through cost recovery. Additional 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 central veterinary laboratory 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 financial targets for the veterinary medicines directorate 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.