Accounts for the year 1995/1996

Foreword to the Accounts

History and Background
The Radiocommunications Agency is responsible for most civil radio matters in the UK. It was established as an Executive Agency of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in April 1990. The Agency is funded through the DTI Vote (Class IV Vote 1). Further background information is set out in the preceding pages. HM Treasury issued an Accounts Direction on 21 July 1993 under the provisions of Section 5 of the 1921 Exchequer and Audit Departments Act requiring the Agency to produce commercial style accounts. These accounts have been audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General.

Results and Appropriations
The surplus for the year amounted to £2,981,000 (1994-95 £3,390,000), after crediting £140,000 (1994-95: charging £3,870,000) of costs relating to the AgencyÕs move to new headquarters in London Docklands and after charging net costs (after recoveries relating to major uninsured losses) of £2,537,000 resulting from the subsequent bombing near those headquarters. Details of the amount surrendered to the DTI and other movements on the General Fund are shown in note12.

Key Performance Measure
The Agency's key performance measure is its ability to recover the full costs of its activities from customers. As reported above, income exceeded full costs for the year, generating a surplus of £2,981,000 (1994-95: £3,390,000). This flows from a number of causes including efficiency improvements.

Review of Activities
The objectives and activities of the Agency and a review of the development of the business are included in the preceding pages. Demand for radio services continues to be strong and, although this brings other challenges, the financial position remains satisfactory. The Agency moved to new headquarters in London Docklands in autumn 1995. Attention is drawn to notes 7, 11, and 16 which show the accounting treatment of relocation costs.

The Agency has since moved again, to temporary premises at London Blackfriars, following disruption to its headquarters operations as a result of the Docklands bombing in February 1996. Attention is drawn to note 1(k) which outlines the accounting treatment and note 18 which summarises the financial effects of the disaster in these accounts. Following two Ministerial reviews of our means of delivering local customer services, a major programme of implementation has been completed reducing the number of individual local offices in order to consolidate into regional licensing and customer support centres. The size and scope of our technical field force, supporting customers across the UK, has been maintained.

The Agency has continued to invest in developing new business processes, information systems and an appropriate supporting IT infrastructure. An integrated ledger accounting system was purchased in the year for phased implementation in 1996/97 and 1997/98 in support of our ALPACA IT project. Work continued during the year on rationalising the Agency's licensing products and analysing the requirements for our RULES unified licensing IT project. Investment continued in network hardware and software to support the Agency's business needs and IT systems.

There are no other special factors which affect these accounts.

Fixed Assets
The changes in fixed assets are detailed in note 8 to the accounts.
Research and Development

The Agency maintains an appropriate programme of research and development. Projects cover a wide area of activity and responsibility within the Agency but are focussed on the fundamentals of radio propagation and support for the Agency's standardisation and specification programme. Research is targeted both to extend the usable spectrum, as new technologies develop, and to make greater use of existing spectrum through sharing and more efficient modulation/coding techniques.

Future Developments
The Agency is carrying through a major review of its headquarters activities. The objectives are both to increase the customer focus of business units and to release resources to meet the challenge of new services and the potential implementation of the Government White Paper proposals on the future of UK spectrum management. The Agency will continue to develop its business as set out in the preceding pages.

Events since the end of the financial year
Since 1 April 1996, responsibility has been transferred to the Agency for all property holdings where it is the sole or major occupier. Further details are given in note 8 to the accounts. There have been no other important events since the year end affecting the reader's understanding of these accounts.

Steering Board Members

The membership of the Agency's Steering Board since I April 1995 has been as follows: