§ Mr. KeyTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what were the terms of reference for the review of the non-deployable estate; when he expects it to be complete; and if he will place a copy in the Library. [121940]
§ Mr. SpellarAs part of the continuing effort to maximise value for money from the Defence Budget, the Army is currently engaged in an internal review of non-deployable posts. The review is due to be completed in the autumn. There are no formal terms of reference for the review, which is being undertaken by the Army chain of command. The aim is to carry out an audit of military posts in the non-deployable Army, in order to inform judgments on the requirement for and priorities for the deployment of military manpower. There are no plans to publish the outcome of the review.448W
Serious Fraud OfficeThe Serious Fraud Office's key performance indicators were published on 17 December 1998 as part of the Law Officer's Department's Public Service Agreement. They are:
- (i) caseload;
- (ii) time from accepting a case to completing investigations; and
- (iii) length of the prosecution stage between transfer/committal and verdict.
The targets set were:
- (i) to increase caseload from 73 cases per yeat in 1998–99 to 77 cases per year within resources provided;
- (ii) to reduce average time from accepting a case and completing investigations from 18 months in 1998–99 to 17.5 months;
- (iii) to reduce the average length of the prosecution stage between transfer/committal and verdict from 16.5 months in 1998–99 to 16 months.
Outturn data which show that the Office has met its key targets are set out in the following table. Figures for the year 1997–98 are included to enable comparison.
Financial year 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 Caseload 78 73 85 Investigation (months) 19.3 18.0 15.3 Prosecution (months) — 16.5 14.4 Crown Prosecution ServiceThe CPS timelines performance targets for which comparable data are available are as follows: