Written Statement of 5 July 2004

  BBC Online: Graf Report
  The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Culture, Media and Sport (Lord McIntosh of Haringey):
  My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (Tessa Jowell) has today made the following Written Ministerial Statement.

  I have today placed the independent review of BBC Online by Philip Graf in the Libraries of both Houses, together with a copy of the letter I have written to the chairman of the governors. The report is also available electronically on the department's website www.culture.gov.uk.

  In response to the review, I have asked the BBC to consider all of Philip Graf's recommendations, and to respond fully by the end of October 2004. I have asked that the governors' response include a redrafted version of BBC Online's remit and a statement of how the corporation intends to involve the independent sector along the lines set out by the report. I have not, at this stage, imposed any further conditions on BBC Online.

  Consolidated Fund (Appropriation) Bill
  Lord McIntosh of Haringey:
  I have made a statement under Section 19(1)(a) of the Human Rights Act 1988 that, in my view, the provisions of the Consolidated Fund (Appropriation) Bill are compatible with the convention rights. A copy of the statement has been placed in the Library of the House.

  Shatt Al Arab Incident
  The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence (Lord Bach):
  My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Defence (Mr Geoffrey Hoon) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.

  On 21 June a Royal Navy training team consisting of eight personnel and three small boats was detained by the Iranian authorities on the Shatt al Arab waterway near the southern extremity of the Al Faw peninsula. The team was conducting a routine boat movement from Umm Qasr to Basra. The initial assessment, reflected in statements by a British Army spokesman in Basra and the British Ambassador in Tehran, was that these Service personnel could have strayed into Iranian waters by mistake.

  Our first priority was for the safe return of the personnel. Discussions with the Iranian authorities secured the release of the eight on 25 June. They
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  were immediately returned to the Multi-National Division South-East, where they underwent a medical assessment and debriefing to establish their perspective of the incident. Since then, two of the team have returned home because their tour of duty has come to an end; another returned home today for medical reasons associated with the incident. The remainder of the team continues to work in Iraq.

  We are continuing with negotiations for the return of the boats and equipment. The deadline set for their return passed yesterday. The equipment consists of personal weapons, ammunition, radios and navigation equipment including echo sounders (to measure the depth of the water), global positioning systems (to identify exact position) and up-to-date maritime charts.

  I would like to reassure the House that British personnel are trained to observe the normal rules of maritime navigation and are issued with modern charts and equipment. This should be sufficient to prevent inadvertent digressions across the border and we are not aware of any previous allegations that the border has been violated.

  In recent more detailed debriefing the crews have said that they were operating inside the Iraqi border and were forcibly escorted into Iranian territorial waters. Our assessment continues, and will be greatly assisted by the retrieval of navigational information in the global positioning system equipment carried by the crews. We are very concerned about the blindfolding of the men and have made representations about this to the Government of Iran. We have also made it clear that we do not expect a recurrence of this type of incident.

  Defence Aviation Repair Agency: Key Targets 2004-05
  Lord Bach:
  My right honourable friend the Minister of State for Defence (Mr Adam Ingram) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.

  The chief executive of DARA has been set the following key targets for financial year 2004–05.

  Key Target

  Details

  Target

  KT 1—Quality

  The measurement of

  Achieve fewer than

  attributable major

  15 attributable major

  customer concerns

  customer concerns

  received from

  annually, on average

  DARA's customers

  financial years

  2004–05 to 2006–07.

  KT2—Business

  The measurement of

  Achieve an annual

  Performance and

  DARA's return on

  return on capital

  Efficiency

  capital

  employed of at least

  employed(RoCE)

  3.5 per cent.

  KT3—Business

  The measurement of

  Achieve a closing

  Sustainability

  DARA's order book

  order book of at least

  cover:

  ꀃ200 million at the

  end of financial year

  2004–05, which

  includes at least

  ꀃ100 million to be

  deliverable.

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  KT4— Wider

  The measurement of

  Present a business

  Markets

  DARA's progress

  case to the

  towards wider

  Ministerial Advisory

  markets penetration.

  Board (MAB) for

  DARA's potential in

  the civil aerospace

  market, by end July

  2004. Then, by the

  end of financial year

  2004–05, to present a

  long-term business

  plan for significant

  growth in the

  proportion of

  revenue from non-

  MOD customers.

  KT5—Cost

  The measurement of

  To reduce total

  Reduction.

  DARA's reduction in

  DARA costs by at

  costs.

  least 5 per cent in

  real terms by the end

  of 2004–05.

  Defence Communications Services Agency: Key Targets 2004-05
  Lord Bach:
  My right honourable friend the Minister of State for Defence (Mr Adam Ingram) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.

  Key targets have been set for the chief executive of the DCSA for financial year 2004–05 as follows:

  Title

  Details

  Target

  KT 1—Service

  The measurement of

  To meet an average

  Assurance

  the quantity and

  of 98 per cent for

  quality of the

  measured services

  agency's services

  against the

  delivered.

  performance targets

  agreed in agency

  CSAs.

  KT 2—Service

  The measurement of

  To commission an

  Fulfilment

  the delivery of all

  average of 96 per

  newly commissioned/

  cent of new service

  changes to agency

  requests on or before

  services.

  the dates agreed by

  customers with the

  DCSA.

  KT 3—Service

  The measurement of

  To achieve an

  Availability

  the availability of all

  average service

  operational services.

  availability of 98 per

  cent for all

  operational services.

  KT 4—Service

  The measurement of

  To achieve an

  Support

  the quality of the

  average 95 per cent

  agency/customer

  success rate against

  interface.

  agreed standards in

  response to demands

  on DCSA operator

  assistance centres

  (OACs) and helpdesk

  facilities.

  KT 5—Customer

  The measurement of

  To achieve a

  Satisfaction

  customer satisfaction

  customer confidence

  with customer

  index of 54.

  interface, delivery

  and support.

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  KT 6—Efficiency

  The measurement of

  To achieve an

  Measurement

  the reduction in the

  improvement in

  average unit cost of

  efficiency by

  output.

  reducing the average

  unit cost of output

  by 4 per cent.

  KT7—Project

  The measurement of

  To deliver new

  Management

  the agency's

  projects to time, cost

  effectiveness in

  and performance as

  managing major

  expressed at the

  complex projects.

  90 per cent

  confidence level to a

  tolerance of 9 per

  cent.

  Disposal Services Agency: Key Targets 2004–05
  Lord Bach:
  My right honourable friend the Minister of State for Defence (Mr Adam Ingram) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.

  The agency was originally launched as the Disposal Sales Agency in October 1994 and was relaunched in November 2000 as the Disposal Services Agency. DSA provides a total disposal solution by acting as a broker and adding value through expert advice across the public sector. The agency operates very much in line with the Government's aim of more joined-up delivery. The chief executive of the agency has been set the following key targets for the financial year 2004–05:

  To achieve a disposal sales gross cash receipt of £20 million from sales of surplus government-owned equipment and stores. This figure reflects the planned surplus equipment disposal programme.

  To meet the key performance indicators agreed in the customer supplier agreement (CSA) with the Defence Logistics Organisation (DLO).

  To ensure that the agency is at the standard or above the standard of the public sector benchmarking report for overall customer satisfaction.

  To secure £365,000 sales per person employed for commercial sales activities.

  To ensure that the e-Trade Exchange is operational in 2004–05 and that 30 per cent of eligible agency contractors use it.

  Naval Recruiting and Training Agency: Key Targets 2004-05
  Lord Bach:
  My right honourable friend the Minister of State for Defence (Mr Adam Ingram) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.

  Subsequent to a proposal by the agency's owner, the Second Sea Lord and Commander-in-Chief Naval Home Command, I have today set the 2004–05 key targets for the Naval Recruiting and Training Agency, as follows:

  To deliver RN personnel to the trained strength (or to other training organisations), to the required quality standard, within 5 per cent variance from the tasked requirement.

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  To deliver RM recruits to within 2 per cent variance from the tasked requirement.

  To maintain success rates of 95 per cent in career training (including targeted employment modules) and 97 per cent in examined pre-joining training.

  To maintain the trained strength of the Royal Naval Reserve at 2,120, pending review of the trained strength requirement.

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  To reduce the cost of the NRTA HQ overhead compared with the 2003–04 baseline figure.

  To achieve net benefits of £15.3 million in financial year 2004–05 from the partnering arrangement with Flagship Training Limited.

  To maintain performance in phase 2 and phase 3 training delivered to Army and Royal Air Force personnel, following establishment of the Defence College of Electro-Mechanical Engineering.