§ Mr. Austin MitchellTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many contracts over £92,500 have been let by his Department in the 1988–89 financial year and in the current financial year to date; and how many of these were(a) automatically renewed and (b) open to competition by advertisement throughout the European Community.
§ Mr. SainsburyThe number of contracts awarded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and covered by the provisions of the European Community supplies directive, for which the current threshold is £92,000, was 13 in the 1988–89 financial year and seven in the current financial year, to date. Of these, three were awarded following advertisement in the Official Journal of the European Community. The other 17 were let following the use of the "negotiated" procedure laid down by the directive. In these cases there was either only one possible supplier or the contracts were for additional goods that had to be purchased from the original suppliers for technical reasons.