Naval Recruiting and Training Agency (Hansard, 16 March 2000)

§ Dr. Moonie

[holding answer 6 March 2000]: This is a matter for the Chief Executive of the Defence Naval Recruiting and Training Agency. I have asked the Chief Executive to write to the right hon. and learned Member.

Letter from John Chadwick to Mr. Menzies Campbell, dated 1 March 2000: I am replying to your question to the Secretary of State for Defence, concerning Key Targets of the Naval Recruiting and Training Agency, as this matter falls within my area of responsibility as the Chief Executive of the Agency. I am pleased to report that the NRTA achieved 6 of the 8 Key Targets set against it in 1998–99. Details of the outcomes, the principal factors affecting them, and measures taken to improve performance further in the current financial year, are at Annex A.

FY98–99 NRTA Key Targets

Targets Achieved

KT2—To obtain a Customer Satisfaction Rating of a least 90%. 94% of feedback forms received from employers of ex-NRTA trainees indicated that the training received had satisfactorily fitted the trainee for his or her subsequent employment. The principal factor behind this achievement is the fact that the RN Systems Approach to Training produces training courses which focus accurately on the skills and knowledge required by the trainee to be effective in his or her operational role. The target was raised to 95% for 99–00. At Min(AF)'s office's request, it is now described as "Fitness for Purpose" rather than "Customer Satisfaction".

KT3—To maintain success rates of 95% in Career Training and 97% in examined Pre joining Training. Achieved with success rates of 97% and 99% respectively. The principal factors are the generally strong motivation of the trainees to succeed in their RN careers, and the fact that, wherever appropriate, training is delivered by uniformed staff who have themselves carried out, at sea, the tasks towards which the training is directed. To seek further improvement in these success rates would not be cost-effective as some residual failure due to trainee attitude or aptitude is inevitable. Nonetheless, the target remains key as a drop in the success rate is likely to be the first indicator of any loss in training quality.

281W

KT5—To retain tasked capacity while operating NRTA within its 1998–99 cash allocation of £233M, a reduction of £7M (3%) from 1997–98 figures. Assessment of achievement against this target is complicated by in-year adjustments to the programme and the cash allocation and in-year requirements for additional savings. After adjustment for these factors, the final outturn was 0.6% over the final allocation of £238M, within the Department's ± 1% tolerance. It remains the Agency's intention to replace this target with a more focused measurement of efficiency in due course.

KT6—To break even over the year in respect of the partnering arrangement with Flagship Training Ltd. The final figure showed a net benefit of £2.3M. The break-even target anticipated significant startup costs and contingencies linked with the transfer of the first tranche of Service Provision activities, which were expected to cancel out the gains from Income Generation. In the event, these costs did not arise and the target was achieved quite easily. In the light of the increasing momentum of this Public Private Partnering arrangement, a very challenging target of £8.1M net benefit was set for 99–00.

KT7—To review the NRTA's Corporate Information Systems Strategy and produce a supporting Action Plan for its implementation, by 31 March 1999. The March Agency Management Board meeting endorsed the conclusions, recommendations and action plan produced by the review of the Corporate Information Systems Strategy. The review aligned the Information Systems strategy to the business needs of the Agency, encompassing the changes brought about by the transfer of the management of Administration Information Systems to Flagship and aligning it with the Information Systems strategies of the wider naval and MOD community. No follow-on target was set for 99–00.

KT8—To include satisfactory dummy auditable accounts in the Agency Annual Report for Financial Year 97–98, in preparation for meeting the Treasury Accounts Direction by including fully audited accounts for FY 98–99 in the following year's Report. Achieved on publication of the Report. The Treasury Accounts Direction was not received in respect of FY 98–99. Min(AF)'s Office directed that this target should not be rolled forward for 99–00.

98–99 Targets not Achieved

KT1—To deliver personnel to the trained strength (or to other training organisations) within 10% variance from the tasked requirement. The final variance figure was –12%. Although this target was narrowly missed performance against it was again improved compared with outcomes of –16% in 97–98, and –26% in 96–97. The principal factors contributing to the outcome were the high requirement against which the variance is calculated, which has increased fourfold since 1994, a difficult recruiting climate, and the wastage of personnel from training pipelines which are running at full capacity. In 99–00, recruiting performance has improved substantially, including the particularly difficult area of Engineer Officers where a number of initiatives are showing signs of success. However, the length of some of the training pipelines means that this improvement will not be fully reflected in the 99–00 delivery figures. Wastage remains a difficult area. Failures during training are being reduced by backclassing and remedial training with many trainees achieving the required standards. However, although allowed for when setting the recruiting targets, other forms of wastage (medical, administrative and voluntary) are unpredictable. The target has been tightened to 5% for 99–00.

282W

KT4—To increase the strength of the RNR to at least 3100. The strength of the RNR on 31 March 1999 was 2,962, up from 2,862 on 31 March 1998. The principal factor in this shortfall was a downturn in recruiting following the good results in the previous year, which probably resulted in an over-optimistic target. In 98–99 an initiative to improve RNR recruiting was agreed whereby new satellite training units would be set up in areas previously without an RNR presence. To date, 2 are in operation (Dundee and Oxford) and further sites are being investigated. The target for 99–00 has been redefined to measure the more critical indicator of the variance of the RNR Trained Strength from the Total Requirement.