§ Mr. WallerTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement about progress towards the establishment of a "next steps" agency in the Northern Ireland Office to administer the compensation schemes.
§ Mr. BrookeThe Compensation Agency will be formally established on 1 April 1992. I have made arrangements for copies of the agency's framework document to be placed in the Library. I have set a number of key performance targets for the agency to achieve in its first year. These are:
Financial Targets
To live within a running costs budget of £3.5 million, reflecting a 2.1 per cent. cash efficiency saving.To manage the agency's budget for demand-led expenditure within the financial limit approved by the Department, including in-year adjustments, while ensuring that expenditure is within a margin of 0.5 per cent. of the approved provision.To reduce the unit cost of processing each type of compensation claim by at least 4 per cent. in real terms.
Claims Processing Targets Target Criminal Injuries Claims Criminal Damage Claims Emergency Provisions Claims Number of claims cleared: 11,750 4,500 4,600 To reduce the average time taken to reach a decision on an application by: 4 weeks 4 weeks 3 days To reduce the number of claims over 3 years old1 where no decision has been reached by: 25 per cent. 25 per cent. 25 per cent. 1 Over one year old in the case of emergency provisions claims.