§ Baroness Nicolasked Her Majesty's Government:
When they plan to lay before Parliament the annual report for the Forensic Science Service. [HL3616]
§ Lord Bassam of BrightonMy right honourable friend the Home Secretary has laid before Parliament copies of the Forensic Science Service's annual report and accounts for 1999–2000.
The Forensic Science Service (FSS) met and exceeded its financial target to achieve a 3 per cent return on capital employed and maintained accreditation through external bodies. However, it did fail to achieve the stretching efficiency gain target and service delivery targets. This was a challenging year for the FSS—further expanding its workforce, absorbing the associated recruitment and training costs and devoting large human resources to the DNA expansion project. It was also the organisation's first year as a trading fund. The targets and plans agreed for 1999–2000 were ambitious, and while the FSS failed to achieve targets in two key areas it demonstrated a significant improvement in both turnaround times and delivery dates met.
The targets for 2000–01 are set out in the following table, alongside those for 1999–2000.
FSS Agency Targets 1999–2000 2000–01 Financial Indicators Return on capital employed Min 3% 10% Efficiency gain (three year ruling) Min 10% Min 10% Quality of Service Indicators Turnaround time 24 days 24 days Exceed 99% of urgent and critical classified cases n/a Pilot Achieve 90% agreed delivery dates ✓ ✓ Put in place service level agreements with police forces (BVAs) ✓ ✓ Put in place routine and robust customer satisfaction measurement processes (milestone 1999–2000 only) ✓ n/a Demonstrate year on year improvements in police (customer) satisfaction — ✓ Quality Indicators Achieve external quality accreditation to ISO9000 and NAMAS standards ✓ ✓