§ Mrs. GilroyTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the performance of his Department's Personnel and Pay Agency; and how many cases relating to(a) grievance and (b) disciplinary procedure took (i) six months or more and (ii) 12 months or more to reach a conclusion in (1) 1996–97, (2) 1995–96 and (3) 1994–95. [46494]
§ Mr. SpellarThe Personnel and Pay Agency (PPA) is responsible for providing pay and personnel services for the Ministry of Defence. The Agency is responsible 309W for the operation of grievance and disciplinary procedures covering its own staff, but not those covering the Ministry of Defence as a whole.
The work and objectives of the PPA are set out in a corporate plan each year. This plan includes a number of key targets for the year which are agreed by Ministers.
Performance against the key targets is recorded in the Agency's Annual Report and Accounts which is presented in Parliament. The PPA was launched on 1 February 1996 and its Annual Report's and Accounts for 1996–97 showed that it largely achieved its targets for service delivery, efficiency, customer satisfaction, quality and information strategy; but that it missed 2 other targets relating to improving IT systems.
Our records indicate that there were no disciplinary or grievance cases which were not dealt with by the Defence Accounts Agency (DDA) (the PPA's predecessor) within 6 months for the year 1994–95 and 1995–96. For 1996–97 all grievance cases were dealt with by the PPA within 6 months.