HC Deb 04 April 1995 vol 257 cc1092-3W
Mr. Win Griffiths

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many pupils in each of the last three years have gained grades A to C in English, Mathematics and Science, and what percentage this was of the year group. [17992]

Mr. Richards

[holding answer 3 April 1995]: The following table shows the number of 15-year-old pupils in Wales who gained grades A to C in 1992 and 1993, and those who gained A*—C in 1994, in the specified GCSE subjects. Percentages are calculated on the basis of pupils aged 15 at the start of the academic year, as it is not known in which year group examination candidates are taught.

Mr. Soames

The Army's Base Storage and Distribution Organisation will become a defence agency of the Ministry of Defence on 4 April 1995. The agency will be responsible for storing and distributing a vast range of general and technical stores, ammunition and vehicles and fuels to meet the Army's requirements in peace, crisis and war. In addition, the agency will provide a training environment for field Army personnel to gain the skills in storage and distribution functions to operate logistic bases in combat zones and theatres of operations.

The agency, to be known as the Army Base Storage and Distribution Agency will comprise a small headquarters at Andover which will manage the operation of seven base storage depots in the United Kingdom, together with their supporting distribution outlets, and three base storage depots in Germany. The agency currently employs some 5,700 civilian staff and 600 military personnel.

As the first chief executive, Brigadier K. J. W. Goad will be offered new opportunities to build on the current organisation's professional expertise and high performance standards. Through a more commercial approach, the chief executive will actively seek to improve the efficiency of his organisation and thereby fulfil the agency's aim of providing its customers with an efficient service which offers the best value for money. The chief executive has been set the following key targets for financial year 1995–96:

  1. 1. Deliver to customers by the required delivery date at least 99 per cent. immediate, 98 per cent. high priority, 97 per cent. medium priority and 95 per cent. routine demands.
  2. 2. Deliver a military logistic support capability which the field Army can deploy worldwide, meeting at least a satisfactory opeval standard.
  3. 3. Introduce by 31 March 1996 formal tasking agreements with main ABSDA customers, and establish performance standards and annual targets for service improvement.
  4. 4. Complete by 31 March 1996 a competing for quality review of £5,000,000 (operating costs) of ABSDA business activities.
  5. 5. Achieve by 31 March 1996 a further 2.5 per cent. improvement in efficiency.
  6. 6. Close by 31 March 1996 17 storage depots in accordance with the programme endorsed by the defence costs study.
  7. 7. Introduce accruals accounting during the first year of operation and produce a set of "shadow" accounts for 1995–96.
  8. 8. Define by 31 March 1996 ABSDA's future financial and business information needs as a statement of requirement for a corporate management information system.

I shall arrange for copies of the agency's framework document to be placed in the Library of the house.