HC Deb 16 October 2002 vol 390 cc868-9W
Mr. Michael Jabez Foster

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether the performance targets for the Defence Bills Agency for the financial year 2002–03 will be revised following the appointment of a new chief executive. [74942]

Dr. Moonie

The Department and the new Chief Executive have reviewed the targets set for the Defence Bills Agency for the financial year 2002–2003. As a result, it was decided that there was scope for further tightening of the already high standards of service provided by the Agency since its formation in 1996. The Key Targets are now as follows:

  1. 1. To make a progressive reduction in the unit costs of output for bills and invoices of between 15 per cent. and 20 per cent. by March 2004; specific annual targets to be agreed with the Owner.
  2. 2. Produce accounting and financial information to the ISO 9001–2000 quality standard and to the times set out in the 1999 Service Level Agreement with MOD Centre.
  3. 3. To pay 99.9 per cent. of correctly presented bills within 11 calendar days of receipt as part of the Department's 30-day payment target.
  4. 4. To raise 97 per cent. of invoices accurately within 4 days of receipt of a correctly authorised claimable document.
    5. 869W
  5. 5. Reduce the overdue collectable debt to 35 per cent. of total collectable debt (based on a 6 month rolling average).
  6. 6. To make a progressive improvement of at least 2 per cent. in the overall level of customer satisfaction compared with the targets set in 2000–2001.

The change to key target number 3 is an effective increase in the challenge to the Agency since previous performance was rounded to the nearest per cent.

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