§ Mr. HancockTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the decision of 587W the Army Personnel Centre to benchmark performance against only the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force Manning Agencies. [57166]
§ Mr. Doug HendersonBenchmarking can take many forms and is one of various management tools available to promote efficiency. The obvious place for the Army Personnel Centre to start is with the Manning Agencies for the Navy and Air Force. It has separately undertaken a self-assessment against the European Business Excellence Model, as noted in the Army Personnel Agency's Annual Report, within the Public Sector Benchmarking Project. The scope for benchmarking with other organisations will be kept under regular review.