HC Deb 15 June 1993 vol 226 cc492-3W
Sir James Spicer

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what targets he has set for the Defence Research Agency in 1993–94.

Mr. Aitken

The targets recently set for the Defence Research Agency in 1993–94 and subsequent years are as follows:

  1. (a) To meet profit and cash targets consistent with a 6 per cent. return on capital employed (ROCE).
  2. (b) To improve overall utilisation from 40 per cent. in 1992–93 to 49 per cent. in 1993–94 and 52 per cent. in 1997–98.
  3. (c) To reduce administrative and general overhead (AGO) expressed as a percentage of total variable costs to less than 15 per cent. in 1993–94 and to hold it at this level or better in following years.
  4. (d) To seek competitive proposals in 1993–94 for market testing amounting on an annual basis to 5 per cent. of DRA's turnover, for secondary competition amounting to 3 per cent. of turnover, and for subcontracts amounting to 24 per cent. of DRA's turnover.
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  5. (e) To achieve 70 per cent. of customer milestones on time in 1993–94 and to increase this to 85 per cent. by 1997–98.
  6. (f) To achieve an increase of 2 per cent. in overall performance and customer satisfaction in 1993–94 (as measured by the sum of satisfaction criteria in the business planning survey).
  7. (g) To achieve a running cost reduction of £38 million per annum in 1993–94 and to achieve the final target of £90 million by 1997–98.
  8. (h) To achieve formal quality certification to BS5750 for one sector by 31 December 1994, and for the rest of the DRA by 31 December 1966.

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