§ Mr. McCrindleasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what general guidance he gives to the chairmen of regional health authorities to encourage the purchase of equipment manufactured in the United Kingdom.
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeHealth authorities have been left in no doubt about the importance of the Government's policy of using the purchasing power to public sector bodies to improve the competitiveness of their suppliers. The Health Service supply council — which is responsible for purchasing policy in the NHS—wrote to all administrators of regional health authorities on the subject in 1981 and again in 1982 and 1983. The correspondence contained specific guidance for NHS staff on how companies supplying the NHS—most of whom are British — could be helped and on the value-formoney criteria which health authorities should use in making purchasing decisions. The guidance is included in the Health Service supply council's first annual report a copy of which is held in the Library of the House.