§ Mr. RichardsTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what key performance targets have been set for the chief executive of the Meteorological Office executive agency for the financial year 1994–95.
§ Mr. HanleyThe agency has been set a range of quality, financial and efficiency targets to ensure that it delivers progressive improvements in the provision of weather-related services.
The key quality targets set for the Meteorological Office during financial year 1994–95 are to achieve 80 per cent. of all business plan targets for customer satisfaction, forecast accuracy and timeliness; and in particular to attain an accuracy of at least 84 per cent. for the 24-hour national forecast broadcast at 1755 hours by BBC Radio 4.
The financial targets are to deliver the agreed Meteorological Office programme within a business plan cash limit of £75,000,000; to reduce net expenditure, as shown in the annual report and accounts, to £93,200,000, representing a decrease of 9.1 per cent. on the 1993–94 budget; and to provide a net contribution to the agency's core costs and general overheads of £3,600,000 from commercial services to the public, industry and commerce, excluding the Civil Aviation Authority and the Department of the Environment, representing an increase of £300,000 over the 1993–94 budget.
Individual areas of Meteorological Office have been set targets to increase efficiency by between 2 and 3 per cent., typically, through improvement in quality and volume of service and reduced unit costs.