Office for Standards of Casework

HC Deb 28 February 2001 vol 363 cc665-6W

Mr. Key

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he established the Office for Standards of Casework; what its mission, purpose and objectives are; and if he will publish its key target; and achievement matrix. [151231]

Dr. Moonie

The Office for Standards of Casework (Army) (OSC(A)) will be formally established by 2 April 2001. Work is currently in progress to develop its outline mission, purpose and goals.

Its mission is to oversee the Army's casework processes in order to achieve the armed forces overarching personnel strategy (AFOPS) goals for discipline.

OSC(A)'s purpose and primary function is to keep the Army's disciplinary and administrative casework processes under constant review and to propose measures that will ensure that these processes are working as efficiently as possible.

OSCA's objectives and associated tasks are: to eliminate inefficiency and unnecessary delay by monitoring Army disciplinary and administrative casework establish and monitor audit trails for casework progress identify sources of unnecessary delay analyse casework to identify trends and issues propose remedial measures analyse priorities for the resolution of issues.

It will also seek to ensure a culture of fairness and justice by promoting consistency in resolving casework throughout the Army, enable the swift and appropriate resolution of casework at the lowest level, continually review the documentary guidelines provided for commanders to ensure they are up-to-date and effective, liaise with all agencies involved in Army casework in order to ensure that their activities are co-ordinated and complementary and confirm that appropriate priority is given to casework at all stages and that standards are maintained.