§ Mr. David ShawTo ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will announce the results of the review of the local offices of the Radiocommunications Agency. [40976]
§ Mr. Ian TaylorMy predecessor accepted the recommendations of an internal review by Coopers and Lybrand not to contract out the enforcement and monitoring work of the agency's local offices. I have recently received, and accepted the findings of, a related efficiency study by PA Consulting Group, which will result in savings of about 2.5 per cent. of the agency's running costs. The PA report proposes a reduction in the number of the agency's representative offices. PA believes that greater concentration of managerial and support staff in fewer locations should improve customers' service levels. The field force of technical staff was found to operate with efficiency comparable to private sector best practice and remain in place throughout the UK and Northern Ireland.