§ Gregory BarkerTo ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if he will list the performance targets that(a) his Office, (b) its agencies and (c) non-departmental 908W Staff in London have access during the school holidays to the Westminster Holiday Playscheme. Each place at the playscheme costs £30 a day. The Department subsidises each place by £13 a day.
Eligible staff in all locations are able to apply for child care vouchers. These support parents to make their own choices about where and what type of child care they want for their child. Vouchers are payable over 48 weeks per annum and are for £21.42 a week for staff who work full time and either have a partner who works full time or are single parents; or pro-rata for staff who work, or who have partners who work, part-time. Staff using a subsidised nursery place at Sunningdale are not eligible for child care vouchers.
A table showing the type of child care provision in my Department; the number of parents who used it; the cost to the Department; and the cost per head is as follows:
public bodies are required to meet; and for each target (i) who sets it and (ii) who monitors achievement against it. [120868]
§ Mr. AlexanderKey performance targets for the Cabinet Office are agreed as part of the Spending Review and the latest set were published in Spending Review 2002: Public Service Agreements 2003–06 (Cm 5571). The Department monitors progress towards the target along with HM Treasury and progress is reported regularly.
The Cabinet Office has one executive agency, The Government Car and Despatch Agency (GCDA). In addition, the Central Office of Information (COI) is a department and executive agency reporting to the Minister for the Cabinet Office.
Key performance targets for GCDA and COI are set annually by me when I approve their Corporate and Business Plans. The targets are announced to Parliament. Key targets for 2003–04 for both GCDA and COI are expected to be announced shortly.
The Chief Executives of GCDA and COI are directly responsible to me for ensuring that the agencies achieve their performance targets. Performance reports, including performance against targets, are submitted to me on a quarterly basis.
Performance against targets is published annually in the agencies' annual reports and accounts. Copies of these are held in the House of Commons Library, or can be accessed via their websites: www.gcda.gov.uk and 909W www.coi.gov.uk. COI' s performance against targets is audited by the National Audit Office (NAO). GCDA's performance against its financial target is audited by the NAO, and performance against other targets is independently reviewed within the Cabinet Office.
The Cabinet Office has no executive non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs), and its advisory NDPBs are included within the main departmental targets.