Thursday 16th September 2010

(14 years, 3 months ago)

Written Statements
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Caroline Spelman Portrait The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Mrs Caroline Spelman)
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I have set Animal Health (AH) the following performance targets for 2010-11:

Value for money

Increased operational efficiency.

Produce a detailed, specific and costed road map for change to Animal Health’s delivery model going forward designed to enable savings of at least 10%.

Ensure that services are delivered in the most efficient way possible, centralising administrative functions where appropriate, capitalising on technology and using standardised processes to help ensure quality.

Work with policy customers and others to deliver changes as part of the operational efficiency programme.

Achieve a 5% (£3 million) efficiency saving by the end of the 2010-11 financial year.

Customer Impact

As part of the wider Animal Health compliance and enforcement strategy, encourage end user behavioural change through the development of more accessible, effective advice and guidance and through more direct and consistent relationships with key stakeholders.

To create a clear explanation of regulatory policies and procedures for end-user customers. To help them understand the law, its associated policies and what responsibilities they have as owners/keepers. The headline advice and guidance will be compact and written in language which is easy to read but provides links to greater detail should it be required. The advice and guidance will make use of a variety of media that will enable AH to reach the target audience.

Demonstrating the provision of clear and accessible advice and guidance is an important precursor to successful criminal prosecution of non-compliant members of the regulated community.

Work with official veterinarians to improve effectiveness and consistency of their interventions.

Engage with official veterinarians in module 6 of business reform programme.

Capability and capacity

Improve preparedness and resilience for responding to outbreaks of disease.

Roll out new tracings module through the business reform programme, enabling more efficient, faster and consistent tracing of potential transmitters of disease.

Reduce the reliance on unstable legacy IT systems through the development and implementation of SAM modules and releases.

Working with our policy customers and operational partners, plan, design and deliver a programme of local and regional exercises across Great Britain to rehearse, enhance, embed and assure readiness for outbreaks of exotic notifiable disease. The programme will include objectives that test the Animal Health operational model, multiple outbreak centres and cross-border activities. To be delivered in conjunction with operational partners.

Deliver a structured programme to assure the readiness of central and local delivery to respond to an outbreak.

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

I have set the Veterinary Laboratories Agency (VLA) the following performance targets for 2010-11:

Customer

Meet contracted research milestones. (see footnote)1

Deliver final research reports on time. (see footnote) 1

Deliver contracted surveillance deliverables to time. (see footnote) 1

Achieve a score of 90% in the VLA customer satisfaction survey.

Maintain appropriate third party quality accreditations.

Value for Money Measures & Financial Performance Efficiency

Achieve full cost recovery.

Capacity & Capability

Conduct one table top notifiable disease simulation exercise to test current laboratory response capability, identify gaps and implement action plan.

Operations

To continue to improve the VLA’s safety record using 2007-8 as a baseline.

Sustainability/Greener Society

Prepare a plan for water usage reduction for the 2010-11 to 2016-17 7% target.

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

I have set the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) the following performance targets for 2010-11:

Value for Money

Achieve cost recovery and demonstrate progress in the three elements of value for money—economy, efficiency and effectiveness.

Customers

At least 70% of customers in the veterinary pharmaceutical industry to consider the level of service provided by the VMD to be good or excellent and for the VMD to act on areas identified requiring improvement within the confines of the available resources.

Policy customers in DEFRA and OGDs consider the level of service provided by the VMD to be satisfactory.

Operations/Policy Delivery

Authorise veterinary medicines according to legislative requirements and to monitor their ongoing safety and efficacy and to take proportionate action.

Ensure that the regulatory system is effective and contributes to protecting animal, public and environmental health and encourage the responsible, safe and effective use of VMPs according to the legislative requirements through proportionate action, and act to detect and deter illegal use.

Capacity and Capability

Ensure the VMD utilises its funding streams efficiently to ensure that it maintains capability and capacity to deliver its business objectives and is fit for purpose.

Sustainability

Increase recycling by 4%.

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

1 It is accepted that there may be mitigating circumstances for not meeting 100% in each case, and that such circumstances may be accepted as appropriate following discussions with the Chief Executive and the VLA Corporate Customer.