HC Deb 19 April 1995 vol 258 c185W
Mr. Peter Atkinson

To ask the President of the Board of Trade what targets he has set Companies House executive agency for 1995–96. [19994]

Mr. Heseltine

I have set Companies House executive agency the following targets for 1995–96:

  • to make all statutory documents available for public inspection within a maximum of five working days of receipt in Companies House
  • to achieve, on average, a monthly compliance rate for accounts submitted of 95 per cent. and for annual returns submitted of 93 per cent.
  • to ensure that a minimum of 90 per cent. of fiche provided to customers are error free and that the percentage of error free work in current processing is at least 97 per cent.
  • to reduce real unit costs by 10 per cent. compared with the outturn in 1993–94—an average reduction of 5 per cent. per annum
  • to achieve a 6 per cent. average annual rate of return based on operating surplus expressed as a percentage of average net assets employed at current values
  • to answer 90 per cent. of incoming telephone calls within six rings—20 seconds

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.