Market Testing (Hansard, 5 May 1993)

§ Ms Mowlam
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what plans he has to introduce new legislation to ease the implementation of further market testing programmes for central Government Departments and agencies in 1993–94.

§ Mr. Waldegrave
The Government's legislative programme for 1993–94 will be announced in the Queen's Speech.

§ Ms Mowlam
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what estimate he has made of the percentage savings arising from market testing in previous years; and if he will give details of evidence he has for the level of savings.

§ Mr. Waldegrave
Annual returns from Departments indicate that in previous years savings arising from market testing have typically been around 25 per cent. of the original cost even when the activity has remained in-house.

§ Mr. McAllion
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what safeguards exist, under the market testing programme, to prevent contractors or consultants already engaged by a Department from bidding for new work to which they had access or privileged information as a result of their involvement in an earlier contract.

§ Mr. Waldegrave
It is the responsibility of each Department to assure itself that proper safeguards are in place to preserve fair and open competition and any competitive tendering exercise. Guidance on these matters was set out most recently by Her Majesty's Treasury's public competition and purchasing unit in its guidance note No. 40, "The Competitive Tendering Process", copies of which are in the Libraries of the House.

§ Mr. McAllion
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if it is Government policy for external contractors to be market tested against an in-house bid at the re-tendering stage following a market test in which the initial contract was awarded to an external contractor.

§ Mr. Waldegrave
It is the Government's general policy not to allow in-house bids when contracted out services are re-tendered. But there may be circumstances when such a bid would be allowed, for example when it could be made as part of a larger in-house bid, in a market test also covering services currently done in-house, or when there appeared to be insufficient external competition.