My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Trade and Consumer Affairs (Gareth Thomas) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.

I have set Companies House the following targets for the year 2008-09:

to achieve a score of more than 86 per cent in each quarterly Companies House customer satisfaction survey;

to achieve a 26 per cent increase in the volume of documents submitted electronically by the end of 2008-09;

to achieve, on average, a target that a search customer can access their requested electronic document on our systems within 60 seconds;

to ensure that Companies House Direct, WebCHeck and WebFiling are available for 99 per cent of the time between the hours of 7 am and midnight, Monday to Saturday for April to December 2008 and between the hours of 7 am and midnight Monday to Sunday for January to March 2009;

to achieve, on average, a monthly compliance rate for accounts submitted of 95.3 per cent;

to resolve 97 per cent of all complaints within five days;

the chief executive to reply within 10 days to all letters from Members of Parliament delegated to him for reply;

to ensure that, on average, electronic transactions received are available to view on the public record within 72 hours;

to ensure that, on average, paper transactions received are available to view on the public record within eight days;

to ensure that 99.5 per cent of images placed on the Companies House image system are legible and complete;

to achieve a target that 90 per cent of staff rate Companies House as a good place to work;

to decrease the weight of non-recyclable office waste by 15 per cent;

to reduce CO₂ emissions for the use of gas and electricity by 1.5 per cent per person;

to achieve by 2010-11 a reduction, in real terms, of 15 per cent compared to 2007-08 in the operational monetary cost of the registry per company on the register;

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; and

to pay all bills within 30 days, or on other agreed credit terms, on receipt of goods or services or a valid invoice, whichever is later.