Army Base Storage and Distribution Agency (Hansard, 18 March 1999)

§ Mr. Doug Henderson

[holding answer 24 February 1999]This is a matter for the Chief Executive of the Army Base Storage and Distribution Agency. I have asked the Chief Executive to write to the hon. Member.

Letter from Peter Foxton to Mr. Mike Hancock, dated 18 March 1999: I refer to your question to the Secretary of State for Defence about those key targets the Army Base Storage and Distribution Agency (ABSDA) did not meet in 1997–98, and what monitoring has been undertaken for those targets in 1998–99. As Chief Executive of ABSDA I am replying as it falls within my area of responsibility. As reported in the Agency's Annual Report and Accounts, ABSDA did not achieve, in part, 3 out of its 4 Key Targets (KT) set for 1997–98. These were: Key Target 1—To deliver the required level of storage and to process receipts and returns as defined in agreements with the Agency's customers. This KT is made up of 20 parts and some of these were missed. Two Stores Unit Returns were missed; these are items returned to the base depots by Units. The procedure for returning items to stock is being re-evaluated by the Agency, its Customers and Consumers and are being addressed by the ABSDA/Defence Logistics Agency (USA) Benchmarking partnership. Indications for the current year are that performance for Stores Unit Returns has improved significantly. Two Vehicle Receipts targets were also missed due to the abnormally high number of vehicles received from 800W trade and an excessive number of faults found by the Vehicle Inspectors at the ABSDA Base Vehicle Depot Ashchurch on vehicles supplied by external suppliers. Key Target 2—To meet the Standard Priority System 96 Supply Chain Processing Times (SCPT) for material authorised for issue. This KT breaks down into 21 parts, of which the Agency missed 6. The Agency missed two targets primarily because of the low volumes of this type that exaggerated the impact of such few failures. The 2 lowest Stores non-operational low priority targets were not met but the non-compliance had the agreement of the supported commands and resulted from reduced resources being concentrated on meeting high priority operational demands. Two Vehicles Issue targets were missed mainly due to difficulties encountered with vehicles that had been mid life extended and refurbished. Vehicles classed as fit for issue on selection were found to have faults that required rectification. It has been a difficult balancing act between the achievement of improved performance via a process review and a significant reduction in resources. In the current year all Stores operational and high priority performances are within target. Key Target 4—To implement the recommendations of the ABSDA Information Systems Strategy. This KT has 3 elements and the Agency missed one. The target has now been deferred to Mar 99. Performance against the subsequent Key Targets for 1998–99 is monitored by the Chief Executive and the Management Board of the Agency on a monthly basis. This performance is reported quarterly to the Agency's Owner and annually to Ministers both in the Next Steps Review and the Agency's Annual Report and Accounts. Key Target Achievement is also considered by the National Audit Office during the annual submission of the Accounts for external audit. ABSDA will be absorbed into the new Defence Storage and Distribution Agency (DSDA) on I Apr 99; lessons learnt from ABSDA's Performance Review, conducted by Army Management Services, have been incorporated into the Key Targets Rationale Paper for the DSDA which is currently with the Agency's Owner prior to submission to Minister (Armed Forces).