§ Mr. Duncan SmithTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what key performance targets have been set for the Meteorological Office for the financial year 1996–97. [28585]
§ Mr. ArbuthnotThe Meteorological Office has been set a range of quality, financial and efficiency targets to ensure that it delivers progressive improvements in the provision of weather-related services in 1996–97.
The key quality target set for the Meteorological Office during financial year 1996–97 is to achieve 80 per cent. of the designated business plan external targets for customer satisfaction, forecast accuracy and timeliness. Additionally, the agency is to devise a value for money index to measure the quality of its services. The accuracy of the agency's numerical weather prediction model is to be improved by at least 2 per cent. in 1996–97, as measured by an index of internationally exchanged model performance data.
The Meteorological Office was established as a trading fund on 1 April 1996 with a financial target to achieve an overall return on capital employed of at least 7 per cent. A target of £3.3 million has been set for the net contribution to the agency's core costs and central overheads from the provision of commercial services to 186W the public, industry and commerce, excluding the Civil Aviation Authority and the Department of the Environment.
The 1996–97 efficiency target is to meet the key quality target within gross expenditure, before interest charges, of £140.3 million. For future efficiency targets the agency is to develop an auditable efficiency index.