Key targets have been set for the chief executive of the Defence Storage and Distribution Agency for financial year 2006-07. Key targets are as follows:

Key Target 1

To meet the customers' requirements as negotiated and agreed in business agreements (BAs). This key target is broken down into the following sub-targets:

1a. For explosive materiel; to supply 95 per cent. of available maintained munitions within demand timescales.

1b. For non-explosive materiel; to supply 95 per cent. of issues to consumers, as forecast and agreed in BAs, to meet that element of the supply chain pipeline time (SCPT) for which DSDA has responsibility.

1c. To process within limits agreed with each individual customer, 98 per cent. of all receipts that conform to the specifications laid down in the contract and/or materiel regulations.

Key Target 2

KT2 is an efficiency measure for continuous performance improvement to achieve a 2.5 per cent. (net of 2.5 per cent. inflation factor) reduction in the unit cost of output (UCO) in financial year 2005-06 (based on financial year 2004-05) while maintaining an effective level of services to the customers in accordance with the business agreements (BAs).

Key Target 3

The value of inventory written off as a result of DSDA's actions to be less than the levels agreed within each business agreement (BA). This key target is broken down into the following sub-targets:

3a. The value of explosive materiel written off as a result of DSD A's action to be less than 0.02 per cent. of the explosives inventory. This includes associated weapons build components that are integral to the weapon system or munitions (including non-explosive components), tools, test equipment and materials that belong to the integrated project teams (IPTs), which are in the custody of DSDA.

3b. The value of non-explosive materiel written off as a result of DSDAs action to be less than levels agreed within each BA.

Key targets have been set for the chief executive of DTMA for financial year 2006-07.

The targets are as follows:

Key Target 1

To achieve at least a "Satisfactory" rating in the provision of planning and delivery of transport and movements support to emerging operations, an increase in the tempo of existing operations or other requirements.

Key Target 2

To achieve at least a "Satisfactory" rating in the planning and delivery of transport and movements support to enduring operations.

Key Target 3

To provide roll-on/roll-off (ro-ro) vessel capability at the readiness states required.

Key Target 4

To meet customers' requirements as negotiated and agreed in customer supplier agreements (CSAs) to deliver:

(1) Some 98 per cent. or more of agency transactions and services, however provided, to be within agreed time, quantity, quality and cost (TQQC) criteria.

(2) At least 96 per cent. (previously 94 per cent.) of transactions against each service to be within agreed TQQC criteria.

Key Target 5

To reduce the average unit cost of output by 1 per cent. on the actual unit cost achieved in 2005-06, in real terms.

Key targets have been set for the chief executive of the Defence Aviation Repair Agency for the financial year 2006-07. The targets are as follows:

Key Target 1—Quality: Achieve less than 15 attributable major customer concerns annually, on average FY 04-05—06-07.

Key Target 2—Financial Performance: Achieve an annual return on capital employed of at least 3.5 per cent. (excluding DARA's fast jet and engines businesses)

Key Target 3—Business Transformation: Carry out the actions by April 2007 that are required to effectively drawdown DARA's fast jet and engines businesses

Key Target 4—Efficiency: Improve overall efficiency by at least 6 per cent. (excluding DARA's fast jet and engines businesses).

Key targets have been set for the chief executive of DSA for financial year 2006-07. The targets are as follows:

Key Target 1

To achieve a disposal sales income of £63 million from sales of surplus Government-owned equipment and repayment business.

Key Target 2

To meet the key performance standards agreed with DSA's customers and specified in internal business agreements and in customer supplier agreements with other public bodies.

Key Target 3

To ensure that the agency is at, or above the standard of the public sector Benchmarking report for overall customer satisfaction. The agency should achieve a level of current satisfied customers of at least 90 per cent. and very satisfied customers of at least 25 per cent.

Key Target 4

To demonstrate value recovery from 70 per cent. of surplus arisings handled by DSA through resale, recycling, composting or energy generation (or any other accepted method of landfill avoidance).

Key Target 5

To keep within an agency administration cost of £6 million for financial year 2006-07.

The key targets have been set for the chief executive of BFPO for the financial year 2006-07. The targets are as follows:

a. Key Target 1. To provide a 100 per cent. secure defence courier service (DCS) for the carriage of protectively marked material (PMM). This target is broken down into the following sub targets:

PI 1: 100 per cent. of packages to reach the required destination.

PI 2: 100 per cent. availability of the DCS capability.

b. Key Target 2. To provide a secure defence courier service for the carriage of Protectively Marked Material (PMM) operating within timescales for scheduled and special items, at not less than 98.7 per cent. of that agreed with customers.

c. Key Target 3. To provide a resilient and dependable service for the controlled and specialised handling of Defence Official Mails by operating at least 96 per cent. of deliveries within scheduled timings, agreed with customers.

d. Key Target 4. To meet 96 per cent. of the requirements negotiated and agreed with customers for the transit times for delivery and collection at defence mail centres (DMCs). This target is broken down into the following sub targets:

PI 1: Some 96 per cent. of mail delivered to DMC by defence mail service (DMS)/Parcelforce (PF)/ Royal Mail (RM) to be sorted and ready for delivery within one hour and 10 minutes of receipt.

PI 2: Some 96 per cent. of mail delivered to DMCs by DMS/PF/RM to be delivered to local customers the same day.

PI 3: Some 98 per cent. of mail delivered/collected into DMCs from local customers before 1500 hours to be sorted within one hour and ten minutes of receipt.

e. Key Target 5. To meet 95 per cent. of the agreed customer requirement for the movement of private and official mails from BFPO London to authorised overseas destinations within agreed timescales. This target is broken down into the following sub targets:

PI 1: Some 95.5 per cent. or more of deliveries of private and official mail to static locations world-wide (less British Forces Germany) within agreed timescales.

PI 2. Some 98 per cent. or more of deliveries of private and official mail to British Forces Germany within agreed timescales.

PI 3. Some 93.5 per cent. or more of deliveries of private and official mail to operational and exercise locations within agreed timescales.

PI 4. Some 95.5 per cent. or more of deliveries of private and official mail to HM ships within agreed timescales.

f. Key Target 6. Total year-on-year direct RDEL cost growth to be no more than defence inflation less 1 per cent. This is an efficiency measure for continuous improvement while maintaining an effective level of service to our customers in accordance with the service level agreements.

Key targets have been set for the chief executive of the Defence Analytical Services Agency (DASA) for the financial year 2006-07. The targets, which build on the already high standards of service provided by the agency since its formation in 1992, are as follows:

Key Target 1: Support our MOD policy and decision making customers by meeting at least 95 per cent. of the timeliness and quality targets in our service level and project agreements, and by scoring at least 90 per cent. in our customer satisfaction survey.

Key Target 2: Increase DASA's support for policy and decision making within MOD by delivering five key new products and/or services.

Key Target 3: Support the Department's accountability by publishing the five key national statistics on time, with no major errors and in accordance with national statistics guidelines and protocols, by meeting at least 95 per cent. of the timeliness and quality targets for other defence national statistics, and by meeting timeliness targets for answering parliamentary questions.

Key Target 4: Develop and agree, by end July 2006, a DASA information strategy; implement actions planned under that strategy for 2006-07

Key Target 5: Make sufficient efficiency gains to ensure DASA can implement and manage the new DASA JPA personnel data system

Key targets have been set for the chief executive of the DCSA for financial year 2006-07 as follow:

DCSA Key Targets for FY 2006-07

My right hon. Friend the then Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs represented the United Kingdom at the Agriculture and Fisheries Council meeting in Brussels on 25 April 2006.

The Council adopted a proposal to broaden the scope of the current provision for exceptional measures in the poultry meat and eggs sectors to help them through a drop in sales caused by consumer fears about avian influenza. I supported the proposals but stressed that the measures should be limited in time and in budget. The Commission tabled a declaration saying that measures already adopted by member states would be considered for co-financing on a case-by-case basis, and that serious market disturbance would be defined at EU, not member state level.

The Council held an exchange of views on a Commission Communication on improving the economic situation in the fishing industry which proposed a range of short and long term measures. I led calls from several member states that measures should deliver a profitable industry which can pay for its own investments and which was characterised by fleet capacity to match available resources.

The Council also held an exchange of views on the Commission's action plan for simplifying the Common Fisheries Policy. The action plan focuses on efforts including process changes to improve the quality of the annual quota decision.

The Council held a policy debate on Commission proposals for a management plan for plaice and sole in the North sea, on the basis of a questionnaire drawn up by the presidency. The proposal aims to manage the fisheries exploiting the stocks of North sea plaice and sole so that they are rebuilt to—and then maintained—within safe biological limits. UK Government views have been submitted to the Commission in writing.

Under any other business, in the absence the Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection the Council took note of a written update on avian influenza H5N1 in the European Union and third countries.

The Agriculture Commissioner updated the Council on progress in the WTO agricultural negotiations. She said that the 30 April deadline agreed in Hong Kong for modalities would not be met but stressed that the EU offer from last October still remained on the table.

On 19 April, my right hon. Friend the Member for Derby, South (Margaret Beckett) reported on progress in making full payments under the 2005 Single Payment Scheme (SPS) in England and announced that partial payments under the scheme would start as soon as operationally possible. Official Report column 13WS

By close on 4 May, over 58,000 claimants, representing 48.5 per cent. of the customer population, had been paid a total of £552 million in full payments. A test run of partial payments to 1,000 claimants was undertaken, successfully, at the end of last week. The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) then moved immediately to process the remaining partial payments. As a result, RPA has now made transfers to the BAGS system, and drawn up payable orders, for £730 million in partial payments. This means the money should reach farmers over the coming week. In total, 85 per cent. of the £1,500 million worth of expected payments for the 2005 SPS scheme year will have been distributed.

The task now is to ensure that the residual element of payments are made as soon as possible to those who have received a partial payment, and that a plan is in place to deal with those who to date have not yet received either a full or a partial payment under the 2005 scheme. 31,000 claimants were not included in the partial payments system, 26,000 because their claim amounted to less than €1,000 and 5,000 because of a diverse range of other factors which made their cases particularly complex. Making full payments to this group of 5,000 will now be given the highest priority by the Rural Payments Agency. Increased priority will also be given to making outstanding payments under the Hill Farm Allowance (HFA) scheme in recognition of the importance of HFA payments to those concerned. I will make a further statement in due course on the 26,000 small claimants and those with HFA claims.

I am acutely conscious of the difficulties endured so far, and the magnitude of the challenge that still lies ahead to complete delivery of the 2005 SPS scheme year. The fact that previous estimates of payment timetables were missed, and the problems this has caused for farmers up and down the country, are a matter of deep regret. I am determined that the right lessons are learned from our experience this year, first to prepare for the undoubted challenges that will exist in the delivery of the 2006 scheme, and second to move to a more stable position for the 2007 scheme year. This will require a concentrated and sustained effort from both RPA and DEFRA, and I hope that industry stakeholders will also continue to work closely with us to that end.

At a practical level, it is important for farmers to aim to submit their applications by the 15 May deadline wherever possible for the 2006 year. However, in recognition of the real problems this year with the distribution of application forms, my noble friend Lord Bach announced last week that late claim penalties will not be applied to claims received between 16 and 31 May.

In order to progress matters in this crucial next phase of SPS delivery I am pleased to announce that Tony Cooper will join the RPA on 15 May as interim chief executive in succession to Mark Addison. Mr. Addison accepted the post at short notice in March in order to address the immediate challenges facing the RPA and has, I know, made a real impression over the last couple of months. However, his was always intended to be a short term appointment and he will leave the RPA at the end of the month.

Mr. Cooper joins the RPA with 15 years experience of business and IT change within the public sector and a proven track record in successful programmes and business change. My permanent secretary recruited him on the basis that he has the skills and experiences needed by the Agency at this stage of their recovery programme. Arrangements for a permanent appointment to the RPA chief executive post will be put in hand at the end of the year once the fundamental review referred to in the written statement made by my right hon. Friend the Member for Derby, South on 16 March, Official Report, column 104WS has been completed.

The annual accounts of the National Blood Authority and UK Transplant for 1 April 2005 to 30 September 2005 and any accompanying Comptroller and Auditor General reports have today been laid before Parliament pursuant to section 98(1C) of the National Health Service Act 1977.

Copies have been placed in the Library.

I am pleased to announce that the annual report 2004-05 and accounts of the Security Industry Authority (SIA) will be laid before Parliament on 9 May 2006 and published on that day.

Copies of the report will be available in the Libraries of both Houses.

I am today laying before Parliament the Department for International Development's departmental report 2006.

I am pleased to announce the reappointment of the House of Lords Appointments Commission until the end of the year, pending further discussions on House of Lords reform.

The Chairman is Lord Stevenson of Coddenham CBE, a Cross-Bench Peer in the House of Lords and the Chairman of HBOS plc.

The independent Members are: Mrs. Angela Sarkis CBE, Governor of the BBC and an independent management consultant; and Mrs. Felicity Huston, Commissioner for Public Appointments for Northern Ireland and a tax consultant.

In addition, there are also three party political Members who are each nominated by one of the three main political parties: the Labour Party Member is the right hon. the Baroness Dean of Thornton-le-Fylde; the Conservative Party Member is the right hon. the Lord Hurd of Westwell CH CBE; the Liberal Democrat Member is the Lord Dholakia OBE DL.

I am pleased to announce, together with the Minister for Defence Procurement (Lord Drayson), that the Department for Transport and the Ministry of Defence have agreed that the joint Search and Rescue Helicopter Project should go to its next stage. It will now go forward to a competition under the Private Finance Initiative. The service will still retain a high proportion of military aircrew alongside civilian aircrew trained to the same high standards.

We are committed to maintaining the effectiveness and high standards of the United Kingdom Search and Rescue Helicopter Service, currently provided by the Ministry of Defence and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, when the existing Ministry of Defence helicopters come to the end of their service life and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency service contract comes up for renewal, in the next decade.

The decision to proceed to this next stage provides an opportunity to bring together the current search and rescue helicopter providers into one harmonised service under a single contract providing the taxpayer with value for money. The service will continue to be managed jointly by the Ministry of Defence and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.