HC Deb 26 March 2004 vol 419 cc70-1WS
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (Mr. Gerry Sutcliffe)

I have set Companies House the following targets for the year 2004–05:A fully electronic operation To achieve 15 per cent. take-up for electronic submission of documents by the end of 2004–05, 35 per cent. take-up by the end of 2005–06 and 55 per cent. take-up by the end of 2006–07.

Readily and freely accessible information To ensure that products and services on Companies House Direct and WebCheck are available for 98 per cent. of the time between the core hours of 7 am and 8 pm, Monday to Friday. To ensure that the web filing service is available to customers for a minimum 98 per cent. of the time between the core hours of 7 am and 8 pm, Monday to Friday.

An efficient reliable and up to date registry To achieve, on average, a monthly compliance rate for accounts and annual returns submitted of 92 per cent. To ensure that 96.5 per cent. of all forms submitted to Companies House are captured error-free. To ensure that of 98 per cent. of images placed on the Companies House image system are legible. To ensure that at least 99 per cent. of images to be placed on the image system are made available within three days. To maintain a unit cost reduction of 3 per cent. in real terms on document registration To achieve, taking one year with another, a 3.5 per cent. average rate of return based on the operating surplus expressed as a percentage of average net assets. To pay all bills due within 30 days, or on other agreed credit terms, on receipt of goods or services or a valid invoice whichever is later.

Customers who are highly satisfied with our services To resolve 97 per cent. of complaints within five days. The Chief Executive to reply within 10 days to all letters from Members of Parliament delegated to her for reply. To achieve a score of more than 82 per cent. in each quarterly Companies House customer satisfaction survey.

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (Mr. Gerry Sutcliffe)

I am pleased to announce that in the light of a strong performance by The Insolvency Service in 2003–04 I have been able to set it a series of challenging targets for 2004–05 and 2005–06 that reflect the general pressure on the public service to deliver increasing efficiency and value for money. Official Receivers and their staffs have a major role to play in delivering the personal insolvency reforms under the Enterprise Act 2002 which come into operation on 1 April 2004 and the new financial regime to which it moves on the same date will provide the flexibility it needs to respond to variations in caseloads within financial years and over longer periods. Under this new financial regime the service is expected to generate sufficient income from fees and charges to defray the total cost of its case administration, estate banking and professional regulation activities. Improvement in its customer focus is reflected in high levels of customer satisfaction and I expect he service to build on this over the coming years. I have asked the chief executive to continue the development of a range of outcome-focused measures, particularly in the regulatory area. At the same time as ensuring that its enforcement action is proportionate and aligned to the policies that promote enterprise and the responsible use of credit, I have also asked the agency to pay particular attention to its role in ensuring high standards of commercial conduct.

The targets set out in the table below reflect the variety of the Service's operations. It will reduce the cost of its policy work by 9 per cent. in 2004–05. The Agency will reduce the average time for securing a disqualification from 24 months to 22 months. It will reduce the 2004–05 cost of enforcement activity by 4 per cent. It will establish a benchmark unit cost for enforcement activity during 2004–05 and then further reduce that cost by 25 per cent. by March 2006. It will increase enforcement activity outputs by 41 per cent. in 2005–06 over the 2004–05 baseline. It will action 90 per cent. of redundancy payment claims within six weeks and will increase the manpower productivity of processing such claims by 11 per cent. in 2004–05. It will increase the percentage of user satisfaction as measured by the User Satisfaction Index from 86 per cent. to 88 per cent. It will retain Charter Mark by Summer 2004 and will retain Investors in People accreditation in January 2006. It will maintain the amount of open insolvency cases at no more than 12 months'input and by 1 April 2006 it will reduce the case administration fee from that prevailing at 1 April 2004 by 8.5 per cent. on a like for like basis. It will action 100 per cent of invoices for payment within 30 days of receipt, and 97 per cent. within 20 days. It will also action 98 per cent. of Insolvency Service account payments within four days of their requisition. Based on an expected reduction of 6.3 per cent. in 2003–04, it will further reduce the costs of the accommodation and procurement functions by 8 per cent. by April 2006.