§ Mr. VazTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what studies he has carried out into the costs or savings of compulsory competitive tendering.
§ Mr. Robin SquireThe Department has commissioned two studies by the Institute of Local Government Studies at the university of Birmingham to evaluate the effects of the competitive tendering provisions in the Local Government Planning and Land Act 1980 and the Local Government Act 1988 on local authorities' direct service organisations. The studies include consideration of the costs and savings.
A report summarising the initial findings of the evaluation of the 1988 Act was published in February 350W 1991. Copies are available in the House Library. I anticipate that final reports for both studies will be published in the new year.