Driving Standards Agency: Key Targets (Hansard, 23 April 1998)

§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (Baroness Hayman)

The key targets for the Driving Standards Agency are set out in its Business Plan, which includes management objectives, performance indicators and key tasks. Copies of the Business Plan have been placed in the Library. The key targets are as follows:

achieve an average annual return on capital employed (ROCE) on statutory activities of 6 per cent. of net assets over the period 1 April 1997 to 31 March 2002;

increase the weighted average of fees by no more than RPI in each of the three years during the period 1 April 1997 to 1 April 2000 and by no more than RPI minus 1 per cent. in each of the following two years;

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achieve a national average waiting time for car practical tests not exceeding six weeks and make appointments available within 10 weeks at 99 per cent. of permanent test centres;

aim to keep 99.5 per cent. of all practical test appointments which are in place two days prior to the appointment date;

answer practical test booking office telephones so that:

Four out of five calls will be answered on their first dialling attempt;

90 per cent. of calls will be answered by a human voice within 30 seconds after completion of handling by the automatic answering system; and

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an average of no more than 4 per cent. of calls in the queue will be abandoned before being answered;

ensure that 95 per cent. of theory test candidates obtain a test booking at their preferred test centre and test session within two weeks of their preferred date; and

ensure that theory test booking office telephones are answered so that:

incoming lines will not be engaged for more than 30 minutes in any week; and

95 per cent. of calls received will be answered by a human voice within 10 seconds after completion of handling by the automatic answering system.