National Savings (Hansard, 4 February 1997)

§ Mr. Hall
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he decided to require accounts for each product run by the National Savings agency; and what were the reasons for that decision. [13092]

§ Mrs. Angela Knight
National Savings has produced accounts for all the savings products for a number of years and has published a statement of business results in its annual report. However, currently the only statutory requirement is to produce accounts for the ordinary account and the investment account, and these are the only accounts which are audited and certified by the Comptroller and Auditor General. It has now been agreed by National Savings, the National Audit Office and the Treasury that the accounts for all products will be audited and certified by the Comptroller and Auditor General from 1996–97 onwards, and the National Audit Office is currently conducting a trial audit of the 1995–96 accounts.

§ Mr. Hall
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list for each year since 1990–91(a) the original supply estimate, (b) any supplementary estimate and (c) the final outturn for the accounts of the Department of National Savings; and what were the reasons for the mid-year adjustments. [13091]

§ Mrs. Knight
The original Supply estimates, supplementary estimates and appropriation accounts for each year since 1990–91 for the Department of National Savings are detailed in the table. Reasons for the supplementary estimates are detailed in the notes to the table:

Year Supply estimate net total Supplementary estimate Appropriation account net total

1990–91 174,169 ¹1 173,224

1991–92 181,732 ²2,082 181,714

1992–93 195,066 ³2,611 196,960

1993–94 199,300 ⁴734 198,769

1994–95 199,057 0 196,701

1995–96 192,261 ⁵1,350 193,520

1996–97 179,793 ⁶1,942 —

¹ Token supplementary estimate to take provision for additional payments to certain holders on index-linked savings certificates, additional prizes to certain premium bond holders and compensation for the delay in making these payments arising from a new legal interpretation of the regulations under which the securities were administered (£1,000).

² Take-up of end year flexibility (EYF) to finance cost of introducing children's bonus bonds (£582,000) and increase in publicity budget for launch of CBB (£1,500,000).

³ Transfer from Department of the Environment for buildings maintenance (£181,000). Take up of EYF to meet payments to Post Office for new products (£814,000), and to fund projects originally planned for 1991–92 and to help finance the costs of the new central mainframe (£1,616,000).

⁴ Take-up of EYF to part fund introduction of pensioners guaranteed income bond (£579,000), and transfer from Property Holdings for building-specific maintenance (£155,000).

⁵ Take-up of EYF to fund voluntary redundancy (£700,000) and delayed information system projects (£650,000).

⁶ Take-up of EYF to help fund voluntary redundancy programme (£1,942,000).

§ Mr. Hall
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the stringency of the performance targets set for the National Savings agency relative to its performance in the year prior to executive566W agency status, with particular reference to the target for customer satisfaction; and if he will set out the method by which the targets were calculated. [13093]

§ Mrs. Knight
National savings targets were set to reflect the priorities for the agency for its first nine months of operation. The targets were announced to Parliament in my reply to a written parliamentary question from my hon. Friend the Member for Southport (Mr. Banks) on 1 July 1996Official Report, column 284. In setting the targets, consideration was given to the performance of the agency in recent years, particularly to the need for various new measurement systems to be developed as a priority for the agency.
Prior to agency status, National Savings carried out a trial customer satisfaction survey in autumn 1995. The 85 per cent. target for 1996–97 was set against the context of that developmental work and to reflect rising customer expectations in the financial services sector.

Year	Supply estimate net total	Supplementary estimate	Appropriation account net total
1990–91	174,169	¹1	173,224
1991–92	181,732	²2,082	181,714
1992–93	195,066	³2,611	196,960
1993–94	199,300	⁴734	198,769
1994–95	199,057	0	196,701
1995–96	192,261	⁵1,350	193,520
1996–97	179,793	⁶1,942	—
¹ Token supplementary estimate to take provision for additional payments to certain holders on index-linked savings certificates, additional prizes to certain premium bond holders and compensation for the delay in making these payments arising from a new legal interpretation of the regulations under which the securities were administered (£1,000).
² Take-up of end year flexibility (EYF) to finance cost of introducing children's bonus bonds (£582,000) and increase in publicity budget for launch of CBB (£1,500,000).
³ Transfer from Department of the Environment for buildings maintenance (£181,000). Take up of EYF to meet payments to Post Office for new products (£814,000), and to fund projects originally planned for 1991–92 and to help finance the costs of the new central mainframe (£1,616,000).
⁴ Take-up of EYF to part fund introduction of pensioners guaranteed income bond (£579,000), and transfer from Property Holdings for building-specific maintenance (£155,000).
⁵ Take-up of EYF to fund voluntary redundancy (£700,000) and delayed information system projects (£650,000).
⁶ Take-up of EYF to help fund voluntary redundancy programme (£1,942,000).