§ Lord Harris of Greenwichasked Her Majesty's Government:
On what date Beck and Pollitzer Ltd. were awarded the contract for taking over the supply and transport department of the Prison Service, and on what date they withdrew; when were the existing staff sent redundancy notices, and whether these have now been withdrawn; and how many staff have declined to accept notice of withdrawal.
The Minister of State, Home Office (Earl Ferrers)In July 1992 Beck and Pollitzer were advised that they would be awarded the contract for managing the Prison Service's warehousing and distribution function from 1st April 1993, subject to the negotiation of, among other things, a satisfactory contract. The relevant Prison Service staff were issued with redundancy notices in September 1992.
As it proved impossible to negotiate a satisfactory contract, it was decided that a service level agreement should be negotiated with the next best tenderer, the in-house supplier. The individual members of staff to whom redundancy notices were issued are being offered the choice of proceeding with the redundancy or agreeing to the withdrawal of the redundancy notices.