HC Deb 06 April 1998 vol 310 cc76-7W
Ms Moran

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what performance targets have been set for the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland in 1998–99. [38203]

Marjorie Mowlam

For 1998/9, the following performance targets have been set out for PRONI:

Financial Performance 1. To meet the challenge of managing the Agency's workload by:

  1. (a) continuing to maintain efficiency, having absorbed a 13.3 per cent. reduction in staff numbers, and having then restructured to fill vacancies more cost-effectively;
  2. (b) providing for an estimated 4 per cent. increase in on-site readers; and
  3. (c) ensuring that expenditure is within the financial limits approved by the Department.

Output 2. To appraise at least 4,500 linear metres of records, including the reappraisal of records so as to eliminate low-grade material. 3. To list and index at least 550 linear metres of records, including ensuring that 100 per cent. of all "open" material is thus processed within one year of receipt.

Quality of Service 4. To maintain extended opening hours. 5. With the help of the computerised document request system, to improve the speed of on-site production to the public by reducing waiting time from 37 minutes to 34 minutes or less in 90 per cent. of cases. 6. To process customer queries within 10 working days of receipt in 90 per cent. of cases and within 14 working days in 96 per cent. of cases, thus maintaining PRONI's Citizen's Charter commitment. 7. To ensure the smooth completion of the annual release for 1999—c. 4,500 records —as well as the on-going release of identified blocks of records at earlier than 30 years. 8. As part of a 10-year storage improvement programme, to survey the conditions in which 10 per cent. of 33,360 metres of records are stored; and, in related exercises, to take remedial action on upgrading c. 1,800 linear metres of records as presently stored on mobile shelving or in plan cases at Balmoral Avenue so as to bring them up to defined standards of archival protection. 9. To provide standards of service which ensure that the number of unsatisfied customers does not exceed 3 per cent. as reflected in signed customer satisfaction questionnaires.

Efficiency 10. To reduce PRONI's composite Unit Cost in the areas of selecting and accessioning, records listing, records storage, document production and reader service, by 3 per cent. from £96.95 to £94.