Dr. Bennettasked the Minister of Public Building and Works (1) what is the size of the programme of new building work and maintenance and repair work carried out by his Department;
(2) what are the proportions of his Department's public building programme carried out by direct labour and contractors, respectively;
(3) what proportion of his Department's building programme has been the subject of competitive tendering in each of the last three years for which figures are available; and what proportion of each year's total was secured by the Department's own direct labour force;
(4) in how many cases his Department's direct labour force has overspent and underspent, respectively, on its estimated costs for a project in the last three years.
§ Mr. MellishMy Department spends some £250 million a year on works services, of which about £150 million is on new works and about £100 million on operating and maintenance services. Direct labour is not normally employed on new works, but about 50 per cent. of the expenditure on operating and maintenance services is on work for which this labour is used. Of the contracts let in 1964–65, 1965–66 and 1966–67 (both for new works and for that part of maintenance carried out by contract) about 90 per cent. in each year were the subject of competitive tendering. Services carried out by direct labour are not put out to tender. Most of this work, apart from operating services, consists of a large number of small day-to-day maintenance items. The larger ones are all individually costed and specially controlled by my Ministry's Regional staffs. But figures of underspending and overspending on the many thousands of individual jobs are not kept centrally, and could not be compiled without quite disproportionate effort.