HC Deb 12 March 1993 vol 220 cc756-7W
Mr. McAllion

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list all those services or functions that have been contracted out from the Inland Revenue since November 1991 without market testing an in-house bid against external competition, with, in each instance, the successful contractor and the reasons for the decision to exclude an in-house bid.

Mr. Dorrell

Where services have been contracted out since November 1991 by the Inland Revenue, there has been in each case an in-house bid or a full comparison with the cost of providing the service in-house; in the case of the valuation banding of properties for council tax, work was contracted out because the Valuation Office Agency's available resources were limited.

Mr. McAllion

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list all the market tests that have taken place in the Inland Revenue since November 1991; whether the result was the maintenance of in-house provision or whether the service was contracted out; what was the name of the successful contractor where appropriate; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Dorrell

The information requested is set out in the following table. In the case of catering and estate management it includes market testing of work done by civil servants in other Departments.

Market testing activity Result Name of contractor
Records management (off-site store at Nottingham) Contracted out Rockall Data Services Ltd.
Valuation banding for council tax Some work contracted out, some retained in-house Various private sector firms (337 in total)
Bulk mailing (employers' budget pack) Contracted out Mailforce Ltd,
Bulk mailing (employers' annual pack) Contracted out Mailforce Ltd.,
Mail Marketing,
Character Mailing
and Scotmail
Typing, secretarial and office support services

(Nottingham)

 Contracted out Blue Arrow Personnel Services Ltd.
Catering (St. Albans) Contracted out Sutcliffe Catering
Catering (South Wales group) Retained in-house (forward)
Catering (Telford) Contracted out Gardner Merchant
Estate management (South Yorkshire and north regions) Retained in-house (PSA Building Management)
Estate management (Greater Manchester, North West, Northern Ireland and Telford) Retained in-house (PSA Building Management)
Estate management (South East, Wales) Contracted out Symonds FM Plc
Estate management (Scotland) Contracted out Faithful and Gould
Estate management (West Midlands, East) Contracted out W. Torpy and Partners
Estate management (London and headquarters) Contracted out Ferguson, Bucknall and Austin)

Mr. McAllion

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many staff in the Inland Revenue are assigned to the market testing programme; how much the programme has cost the Inland Revenue since November 1991; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Dorrell

At present 40 staff are assigned to market testing in the Inland Revenue. The estimated cost of the programme since November 1991 is approximately £2.7 million.

Mr. McAllion

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the firms of consultants used by the Inland Revenue as part of the market testing programme since November 1991 together with the total cost; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Dorrell

The following firms have been used:

  • Allied Accountancy Services
  • Coopers and Lybrand
  • Ernst and Young
  • Lucidus Ltd.
  • P-E International
  • Theordore Goddard
  • Touche Ross

The total cost of the services of these firms to date approximately £1.1 million.

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