HC Deb 22 July 1997 vol 298 cc743-4
4. Mr. Swayne

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the financial impact of the abolition of compulsory competitive tendering in the national health service. [7945]

Mr. Milburn

There is no compulsory competitive tendering in the national health service. The Government are, however, examining market testing policy, in particular the current requirement to market-test catering, cleaning and laundry services. Whatever the outcome of the review, we are committed to best value in terms of both cost and quality of service for all NHS patients.

Mr. Swayne

I thank the hon. Gentleman for that excellent reply. Does he agree with the Secretary of State—[HON. MEMBERS: "Reading."] I shall quote if I may—who, in 1995, said that the benefits from compulsory competitive tendering had been made at the expense of blue collar workers and that that was why he was against it? Has he changed his mind? Does the Minister agree that competitive tendering provides an effective means of market testing? Will he confirm that it has saved the NHS £1 billion since 1993?

Mr. Milburn

Five marks for artistic impression, none for substance. The hon. Gentleman is obviously unaware not just of the concerns of NHS staff and managers about compulsory market testing but of the concerns of commercial contractors. He might know of the Business Services Association, which represents leading-edge cleaning and catering companies. Its director general said recently: Our most urgent task is to convince the public sector that we genuinely want a partnership based on mutually compatible objectives. The confrontational approach of CCT and market-testing must be transformed into a system of co-operation between public and private sectors. We have been listening to the private sector. Obviously the hon. Gentleman has not. I conclude from that that the Conservative party has nothing of value to say on the NHS and does not even represent the interests of the private sector, which it claims to speak for.

Mrs. Dunwoody

Will my hon. Friend explain to the hon. Member for New Forest, West (Mr. Swayne) that no hospital service survives in a clean and secure state if it is run by low-paid, disaffected and unhappy people such as the low-paid workers who provide the profits for unscrupulous private contractors?

Mr. Milburn

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Catering, cleaning and portering staff deliver part of the family of services provided under the umbrella of the NHS. They play an important role in hospitals and other settings in the NHS. The Government value and respect their contribution and we want value for money and quality of provision to go hand in glove in the future.

Mr. Maples

Is the Minister aware that an estimate produced by his Department at the end of the last Parliament suggested that the savings made for the NHS by competitive tendering were about £90 million a year? If that is added to the cost of the minimum wage that the Government propose to introduce and to the impact of inflation next year, how much of the additional £1 billion that his Department obtained in the Budget will be available for patient care?

Mr. Milburn

I have a fairly simple view about statistics produced under the previous Administration—they are wrong.

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