§ Mr. Marplesasked the Minister of Technology what are the regulations of his Department for evaluating tenders to supply navigation instruments.
§ Mr. BennThe question as phrased appears strictly to relate to production only, not development. Competitive tenders for the development of navigation equipment are dealt with under the Department's normal general competitive tender procedures.
§ Mr. Marplesasked the Minister of Technology what staff, by number and grades, are allocated full-time to standardisation/variety reduction within his Department.
§ Mr. Benn
Grade Numbers Assistant Secretary 1 Principal 2 Assistant Principal 1 Higher Executive Officer 1 Executive Officer 2 Clerical Office 3 Clerical Assistant 1 Personal Secretary 1 Deputy Chief Scientific Officer 1 Senior Principal Scientific Officer 3 Director (Engineers) 1 Engineer I 1 Total: 18
§ Mr. Marplesasked the Minister of Technology, of the products procured by his Department regularly for three years or more, what proportion has, within the last three years, been specifically reviewed to evaluate product design against present need and potential cost reduction.
§ Mr. BennThe equipment purchased by the Ministry of Technology is mainly42W of a sophisticated nature and is normally ordered in relatively small quantities involving short production runs. The main emphasis is placed on specifying value engineering in all appropriate contracts at the critical stage of design and development as subsequent modification of equipment would not be practicable on short production runs. The major firms in industry with which the Department deals practice value engineering and have specialised staff suitably trained in the techniques. The type of review envisaged in this question is not, therefore, appropriate.
§ Mr. Marplesasked the Minister of Technology what committee exists within his Department to co-ordinate procurement policies; what are its composition and terms of reference; and how often it meets.
§ Mr. BennThe main committees which co-ordinate procurement policies within the Department are:
(i) Standing Group on Public Purchasing and Industrial Efficiency.
Terms of reference:—
To initiate proposals and to review action for implementing the policies and principles outlined in the White Paper on Public Purchasing and Industrial Efficiency (Cmnd. 3291) insofar as they concern the procurement, sponsoring and other responsibilities of the Department.Composition:
Chairman (Under Secretary level) and seven members of Assistant Secretary level or above.
Frequency of meetings:
Approximately every six weeks.
(ii) Under Secretary/Contracts Division holds periodic meetings of the three Directors of Contracts and the Directors of Accountancy Services, Technical Costs, Patents and Administration (Contracts Division).
There are no set terms of reference but the object is to co-ordinate the work of the different Directorates and to discuss problems of common interest. The meetings are held approximately at two or three monthly intervals. In addition, there are many ad hoc meetings on various aspects of procurement policy.
§ Mr. Marplesasked the Minister of Technology what is the establishment, by numbers of staff in each grade, of each directorate or section concerned with procurement; and what has been its average strength in each of the past three years.
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§ Mr. Benn
CONTRACTS DIVISION—PURCHASING Grade Complement Average Strength, 1966–67 Average Strength, 1967–68 Average Strength, 1968–69 Under Secretary … … … 1 1 1 1 Assistant Secretary … … 1 1 — 1 Director … … … 3 2 3 3 Deputy Director … … … 8 8 8 8 Assistant Director … … 23 23 23 23 Chief Executive Officer … … 5 3 3 3 Senior Executive Officer … … 59 64 62 59 Higher Executive Officer … … 122 113 119 121 Executive Officer … … … 227 216 219 214 Personal Secretary … … 13 1 1 5 Clerical Officer … … … 274 246 246 239 Clerical Assistant … … … 84 77 73 66 Senior Machine Operator … 1 1 — 1 Machine Operator … … 6 2 — 2 Telex Operator … … … 1 — — 1 Total (Purchasing) … … 828 758 758 748
§ Mr. Marplesasked the Minister of Technology what are the salaries of the most senior officer with full-time responsibility for procurement, and of those reporting directly to him.
§ Mr. BennThe administrative head of Contracts Division and three Directors General (Quality Assurance, Aircraft Production, Guided Weapons and Electronic Production) each receive salaries of £5,500 p.a. (plus £125 p.a. London Weighting). Salaries of senior staff, administrative and professional (i.e., scientists and engineers), reporting direct to these officers range from £4,200 to £5,080 p.a. (plus London Weighting) according to the post and/or senority of the officer concerned.
§ Mr. Marplesasked the Minister of Technology to which professional institutes and institutions procurement staff belong; and how many of the staff belong to each of these professional bodies.
§ Mr. Benn44W
No. of staff belonging Institute of Chartered Accountants 65 Association of Certified and Corporate Accountants 24 Institute of Cost and Works Accountants 10 Chartered Institute of Patent Agents (plus some Associates) 10 Institution of Mechanical Engineers * Institution of Electrical Engineers * Institution of Production Engineers * Institution of Electronic and Radio Engineers *
Chartered Institute of Patent Engineers * Institute of Statisticians * Institution of Metallurgists * Royal Institute of Chemistry * Royal Aeronautical Society * * Because of the number and variety of professional and sub-professional technical officers employed, it would not be practicable or meaningful to state precise numbers (a considerable number of staff belong to more than one body). At the higher levels, about 75 per cent, belong to at least one professional body. At lower levels membership is estimated to be about 20 per cent. No Ministry staff in the procurement areas belong at present to the Institution of Purchasing and Supply; but 27 are currently studying for this qualification.
§ Mr. Marplesasked the Minister of Technology what is the average length of service in the procurement function of staff currently alloted to it.
§ Mr. BennFor non-professional classes the period varies between, on average, five to seven years, but more than two-fifths have spent over ten years on procurement. For professional accountants the average is about four years, but again more than two-fifths have spent over ten years on procurement. For the patents class the average is about ten years and for the other professional classes, with a few exceptions in the scientific classes, the average length of service of staff currently allotted is about seventeen years.
§ Mr. Marplesasked the Minister of Technology what proportion of procurement staff in his Department are late entrants into the Civil Service with more than one year's previous commercial experience of procurement.
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§ Mr. BennOur records do not show this information in so far as administrative and clerical staff are concerned. As regards the professional staff, the proportion of late entrants with previous commercial experience of procurement varies according to the type of procurement function performed. About 50 per cent. of technical cost officers fall into this category; about 20 per cent. of those employed on quality assurance work; and about 34 per cent. of those employed on production duties. For sub-professional supporting grades the average percentage with previous commercial experience of over one year is about 45; but as with the other classes such experience is not necessarily related to procurement work.
§ Mr. Marplesasked the Minister of Technology to what extent the same organisation and staff of his Department is required to handle negotiated procurement and competitive tendering; and what proportion of staff is allocated to each.
§ Mr. BennThe form of organisation for procurement and the associated staffing is not dictated by whether the method of procurement is by negotiation or by competition. It is the Department's policy to secure competitive tendering whenever possible and when it can do so, the same organisation and staff would be used as for procurement by negotiation except that the Directorates of Accountancy Services (D.A.S.) and Technical Costs (D.T.C.) would have no part to play in the competitive tendering.
§ Mr. Marplesasked the Minister of Technology (1) for the latest year for which figures are available. what was the total departmental expenditure on navigation instruments; how this is divided between air and sea navigation equipment and between development contracts and production contracts; and what proportion of each contract category was placed as a result of competitive tendering;
(2) what proportion, by value, of navigation instruments procured by his Department was for use by his Department; and on behalf of what other Departments and nationalised industries instruments were purchased, for the latest convenient stated period.
§ Mr. BennTotal departmental expenditure figures on navigation equipment are46W not available, because equipment costs are not separately identifiable in the case of all-up buys such as the Nimrod aircraft. No reliable estimate can be made of the magnitude of these unidentifiable costs (which must be substantial) and no allowance has been made for them in the quoted figures of direct departmental expenditure on development and production.
Direct departmental expenditure on development of navigation equipment in 1968–69 was approximately £3.5 million, of which approximately 17 per cent. was on contracts placed following competitive tenders. In addition to the £3.5 million, some £0.5 million was spent on defect investigations and improvements to equipment already in service, for which competition was not of course feasible.
The whole of this £4 million was spent on air navigation. Almost all of it was for the development of equipment intended ultimately to meet M.O.D. requirements but used by Mintech in the research and development phases; expenditure not ultimately on behalf of M.O.D. was very small—£170,000 on equipment for the national space programme, and £25,000 on equipment for civil aircraft on behalf of the Board of Trade.
§ Mr. Marplesasked the Minister of Technology whether manuals of procurement instructions and regulations are provided to procurement officers in his Department; and what arrangements are made to ensure compliance.
§ Mr. BennThere is an extensive range of manuals containing instructions and regulations on procurement. It is a function of the management structure of the Department to ensure compliance with these instructions and regulations.