§ Mr. LlwydTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) what proposals he has to audit the performance of the British Cattle Movement Service; [110595]
(2) what initiatives he is pursuing to improve the efficiency and performance of the British Cattle Movement Service. [110535]
972W
§ Ms QuinThe British Cattle Movement Service (BCMS) is subject to regular audit both from within my Department and by the National Audit Office.
BCMS's performance is monitored against its Public Service Agreement Targets. Industry now has a key role in this process through the recently formed Cattle Tracing Industry Forum.
As a relatively new organisation, BCMS has been developing its quality control procedures and these have already delivered significant improvements in efficiency. As a result of current management initiatives, together with the commitment of BCMS staff, it is expected that registration of the BCMS quality management system under International Standard ISO EN BS 9002 will be achieved during the next financial year.
BCMS is also undertaking a programme of visits to commercial organisations and to other member states carrying out analogous services. The visits are intended as a best practice and benchmarking exercise to compare business efficiency. One comparison visit with the commercial sector has already taken place and efficiency visits to two other member states' cattle tracing organisations are arranged for March and April.