§ Lord Lester of Herne Hillasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether service enhancement linked with increased revenue exceeds the 1996–97 target for the Public Record Office by 15 per cent. [HL37]
§ The Lord ChancellorThe Public Record Office expects to achieve its 1997–98 target to increase revenue by 13 per cent. (not 15 per cent.) against the 1996–972WA target. The outcome cannot be certain until after the end of the financial year.
The increased revenue is not being spent on a particular service enhancement but has been added to the funds available to the Office for a range of enhancements during 1997–98, notably extending its opening hours, opening a shop for users at its Family Records Centre and developing its image library for public use.
§ Lord Lester of Herne Hillasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether the reduction in staff numbers at the PRO between 1995–96 and 1996–97 has affected the ability of the Office to provide a speedy service for users who wait for electrostatic copies of documents to be made. [HL36]
§ The Lord ChancellorIt has not. In fact the "while you wait" copy service was introduced in September 1995 as an enhancement of the services available to the users of the Public Record Office.
§ Lord Lester of Herne Hillasked Her Majesty's Government:
How many members of staff at the Public Record Office are employed in making electrostatic copies of documents while users wait. [HL34]
§ The Lord ChancellorUp to four staff are available in the two reading rooms at any one time for photocopying while customers wait.
§ Lord Lester of Herne Hillasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether the targets for key performance indicators in the Business Plan set by the Lord Chancellor to measure the efficiency, quality of service and effectiveness of the PRO can be amended to ensure that the speed of the reprographic service is increased to enable staff to make more than 15 copies at a time for users who wait for the service. [HL35]
§ The Lord ChancellorThe speed of throughput of the copying service while readers wait depends upon the type of document, its size and condition, the preparation required and the availability of the appropriate copier at the time of order. Staff are handling irreplaceable documents and are required to apply the PRO's document handling standards.
A restriction of 15 copies per order is applied to minimise waiting times as far as possible and to provide a fair and equitable service to all readers. While key performance indicators can be amended, further improvements in service will be largely dependent on the acquisition of advanced copying technology. This will be introduced as and when resources become available.