§ Mr. GallieTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement about performance targets for the Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency for 1996–97. [27108]
§ Mr. Raymond S. RobertsonFor the financial year 1996–97 I have set the following targets:
- Aerial surveillance—per cent. of hours flown on task: 85 per cent.
- Aerial surveillance—cost per aircraft sighting: £88
- Marine surveillance—number of boardings at sea: 2, 600
- Marine surveillance—cost per boarding: £2, 590
- —utilisation of effective patrol days: 96 per cent.
- Sea Fisheries Inspectorate—cost per logsheet check: £64
- 75 per cent. of cases for prosecution to be reported within six weeks of offence being detected and 90 per cent. within eight weeks
- Number of cases where court proceedings are taken as percentage of offences reported to prosecuting authorities: 75 per cent.
In order to ensure that the Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency uses its resources efficiently, I have set it a target to achieve cash releasing efficiency gains of 2 per cent. during 1996–97.
The chief executive will be directly accountable to me for the achievement of these targets, which will be reported in the agency's annual report.