I have set the central science laboratory (CSL) the following performance targets for 2008-09:

Service Delivery Quality

Outputs from applied research R&D are delivered to deadline, meet agreed quality standards, answer the policy questions and are presented in a way that is useful to policy makers and other delivery bodies.

Outputs from monitoring/surveillance are timely, accurate, and their presentation and explication useful to policy makers and other delivery bodies.

To achieve a mean score of 4.2 on a scale of 0 to 5 for the assessment of customer satisfaction to reflect a recalibrated baseline.

Value for Public Money

To recover the full economic costs of the agency’s services from Government Departments, agencies and external customers.

To deliver the efficiency targets set out in the business plan.

Capacity and Capability

To deliver key outcomes against the 2006 science audit implementation—including a communication strategy; a co-ordinated approach to international science collaboration; increasing staff involvement in scientific publications; and commercial exploitation of research outputs.

To extend technical capability to support emergency response strategies across the public sector.

To work with other constituent organisation heads and DEFRA’s delivery transformation programme, providing sufficient CSL resource, in implementing the new Regulatory Science Agency for vesting on 1 April 2009.

Further details are given in the CSL business plan for 2008-09, copies of which have been deposited in the Libraries of the House.