Patent Office (Hansard, 6 June 1995)

§ Mr. Heseltine

In the light of the announcement I made on 14 December 1994,Official Report, column 305, on the outcome of the review into the future options for my Department's Patent Office, I have set it the targets listed below for 1995–96. These are designed to encourage the Patent Office to contract out activities wherever this is compatible with its statutory role and good value for money as a means of continuing to improve efficiency and quality of service to its users.

Efficiency

To increase output in relation to total staff numbers by 2 per cent.
To increase output in relation to total staff costs by 2 per cent.
To increase output in relation to current expenditure by 2 per cent.

Quality of Service

To issue patent search reports within 12 weeks of receipt of a request in the Patent Office.
To issue patent examination reports within 18 months of publication.
To confirm payment of patent renewal fees within 7 working days of receipt in the Patent Office.
To issue initial search and examination reports on design application within 12 weeks of receipt of request.
To confirm payment of design registration renewal fees within 7 working days of receipt in the Patent Office.
To issue trade mark examination reports within 2 months of data capture in the Patent Office.
To advertise within 7 months of examination trade mark applications which attract no substantive objection at the examination stage.
To register within 4 months of advertisement trade mark applications which are not formally opposed.

The Patent Office's steering board will monitor performance against these targets and, in relation to those dealing with quality of service, will establish performance indicators aimed at incremental improvement on current standards.

In addition, I expect the chief executive of the Patent Office to continue to reply within 10 working days to all letters from Members of Parliament delegated to him for reply.