§ Mr. Dobsonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will publish in the Official Report the evidence available to him on why health authorities have terminated commercial contracts in the past, referred to in the Fourth Report from the Social Services Committee on public expenditure on the social services.
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeA number of cases of alleged difficulties with contracts were drawn to our attention by the unions and investigated by our Department in 1983. Some were very old and some were unsubstantiated. In a few cases problems appear to have been caused by poor performance by contractors, inadequate specifications of what was required and insufficient monitoring by health authorities. Advice on how to avoid these problems in the future has been included in our circular HC(83)18 and in the specimen contract documents issued to health authorities.