Food and Environment Research Agency

Monday 13th September 2010 Written Statements

[The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Mrs Caroline Spelman)]

I have set the Food and Environment Research Agency—FERA—the following performance targets for 2010-11:

Value for Money, Financial Performance and Efficiency

To demonstrate that the year on year planned savings from the establishment of FERA continue to be achieved.

Achievement of the financial savings as defined in the agency merger cost-benefit statement.

To meet agreed efficiency targets for 2010-11 and achieve full economic cost recovery for regulatory services from April 2011.

To achieve a balanced budget and to meet the financial and efficiency targets set for the agency consistently demonstrating value for money.

Customers (Internal and External)

To support sustainable food production through the provision of internationally respected, trusted, independent and impartial advice to both Government and external customers.

Reported against measures agreed with the corporate customer, and baselined against the 2009-10 customer satisfaction survey, to achieve for Government customers, all in the “very” or “fairly satisfied” categories.

Reported against measures agreed with the corporate customer, to establish a baseline for non-Government customers against the 2009-10 customer satisfaction surveys.

Both measures will be underpinned by a continuous improvement process driven by project feedback gained through the year and reported to the Strategic Advisory Board.

Operations/Policy Delivery

Regulation, Policy and Risk

To support a strong and sustainable economy through the delivery of effective policy outcomes and reduce the regulatory burden on industry.

Delivering of contracted work with DEFRA and other Government Departments (OGD) within agreed deadlines and budgets.

Achieving delivery within the monthly RAG report of 100% in any one quarter of green/amber or better for all policy-related annexes of the DEFRA/FERA service level agreement (SLA).

Measurable improvements in achievement of inspection targets such that infraction is avoided.

Implementation of key recommended actions arising from Hampton implementation review.

Research and Development

To deliver outputs from strategic and applied research, scientific services, and environmental monitoring and surveillance work to agreed deadlines, quality standards and formats.

Meet all project milestones, deliver within agreed budgets and publish reports in accordance with agreed dates and formats.

Within the monthly RAG report, deliver all within each quarter of projects to green/amber standard or above for all evidence/research based annexes within the DEFRA/FERA SLA agreement.

To maintain (appropriate) scientific quality standards as demonstrated by independent audits for example ISO 9001 etc.

Published research reports to meet or exceed the expectations of DEFRA/OGD customer needs as supported by feedback from them

Capacity and Capability

To develop DEFRA’S and the Home Office’s incident response capability and to demonstrate the robustness of FERA business continuity and contingency plans.

Chemical Biological Radioactive Nuclear (CBRN) services to deliver projects to time, cost and agreed outcomes as specified in the DEFRA/FERA SLA annex number 5.

Developing FERA business continuity and contingency plans and moving to alignment with BS25999.

Develop and maintain a culture of ownership and accountability that is appropriately led, and that values everyone for their contribution.

Achieve a 3% increase in the staff engagement measure as compared to the baseline from the 2009-2010 Government-wide staff survey

Provide appropriate and targeted coaching and staff development programmes to maximise staff potential in the support of agency objectives

Sustainable Operations on the Government Estate

Drive value through synergies across the FERA estate that maximise the exploitation of assets.

Meet the delivery targets of the FERA sustainable development action plan.

To maximise the value of the Sand Hutton site with the aim of attracting other organisations to occupy a minimum area of 200 square metres.

To meet the Departments’ sustainability targets as applied to science/laboratory based agencies.

To produce a water usage reduction five-year action plan.

Further details are given in the FERA business plan for 2010-11, a copy of which has been placed on the FERA website.