Research Laboratories (Hansard, 21 July 1994)

§ Mr. Elletson
To ask the President of the Board of Trade what targets he has set his Department's research laboratories for 1994–95.

§ Mr. Heseltine
As I stated in my written answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Twickenham (Mr. Jessel), on 14 April 1994,Official Report, columns 251–53, reporting the outcome of the review into the future options for my Department's research laboratories, the Laboratory of the Government Chemist, the National Engineering Laboratory and the National Physical Laboratory all have good records of meeting the targets that they have been set and improving their performance from year to year. Their results for last year, which will be made available when their annual reports and accounts for 1993–94 are laid before the House, all show that improvements continued to be made: these have been achieved despite the tougher competition which the laboratories faced in winning and retaining work from public and private sector customers.
The targets that I have set LGC and NEL for 1994–5, together with the five-year targets that were set for NPL on becoming an agency on 3 July 1990, Official Report, columns 499–500 are set out in the tables. In addition, I expect the chief executives of the agencies to continue to reply within 10 working days to all letters from Members of Parliament delegated to them for reply. Primary Financial Targets

LGC Recovery of full costs from income for customer work.

NEL Recovery of full costs through "arms-length" contracts from customers by 1994–95.

NPL Recovery of full costs from income for customer work.
Secondary Targets

LGC To achieve an average rate of 90 per cent. for completion of reports on analysis of (or research into) samples by the date agreed with customers for the year as a whole.

To achieve more than 85 per cent. of contract research milestones within the timescale agreed with the customer.

To maintain NAMAS accreditation for the categories of work in which the Laboratory operates, registration for Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) and Laboratory-wide registration to BS5750 (ISO 9001).

NEL To increase the number of non-DTI clients who provide revenues of more than £100k per annum by 50 per cent.

To introduce by September 1994 a revised Divisional base organisation designed to facilate privatisation.

To arrange training programmes to ensure the managers in the revised organisation acquire the new competences needed for a transition to private sector working practice.

By September 1994 to introduce an improved version of the contract completion questionnaire to reflect the input from all clients in 1993–94.

To carry out customer consultation post-completion reviews of 20 per cent. of all contracts in excess of £250k.

By September 1994 to achieve laboratory-wide ISO9001 accreditation for those eligible areas which did not receive accreditation by the end of 1993–94.

NPL To improve to 90 per cent. by 1994–95 the percentage of calibrations completed within six weeks.

To complete at least 95 per cent. of contract research investigations on time over the period 1990–91 to 1994–95.
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To increase by at least 3 per cent. the number of research milestones achieved annually per scientist over the period 1990–91 to 1994–95.

To reduce the cost of administrative support so that by 1994–95 it represents no more than 20 per cent. of NPL's full economic cost.

To increase the proportion of staff time attributed to programme-related work by 5 per cent. over the period 1990–91 to 1994–95.

To reduce the cost of NPL per member of project staff by 2 per cent. per annum over the period 1990–91 to 1994–95.

To secure a combination of output efficiency and cost reduction measures which, taken together, represent a requirement on NPL to improve its overall efficiency by more than 2 per cent. a year over the period 1990–91 to 1994–95.

§ Mr. Elletson
To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will make a statement about the future of the National Weights and Measures Laboratory.

§ Mr. Heseltine
In my reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Twickenham (Mr. Jessel) on 14 April 1994,Official Report, columns 251–53, I undertook to make a further announcement on the future of the National Weights and Measures Laboratory.
I am today placing in the Library of the House the report on NWML by the consultants KPMG Peat Marwick.
I have decided that NWML should remain a next steps agency within my Department. I am giving further consideration to moving the agency onto a financial control regime which will provide it with the scope it needs to utilise its expertise and facilities more fully in meeting a wider range of its customers' needs on a self-financing basis.
I have set NWML the following targets for 1994–95: to ensure that its fee earning activities remain self-financing; to increase their output per person employed by 2 per cent.; to reduce the real cost of a programme hour by 2 per cent.; to complete 92 per cent. of all type examinations within 14 weeks and to complete 96 per cent. of all calibration jobs (including preparation of certificates) within 4 weeks of acceptance of the work.
In addition, I expect the chief executive of the agency to continue to reply within 10 working days to all letters from Members of Parliament delegated to him for reply.