§ Mr. MeacherTo ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster in how many cases in each of the last two years where market testing of public services took place an in-house bid was prohibited; in how many cases it was allowed; in the latter case, how many times the in-house bid won; what percentage of the total for each year was represented by each of these categories; and what was the total value of the contracts in each category.
§ Mr. WaldegraveComprehensive information on the reasons for contract being let without an in-house bid is not available centrally. The rest of the information requested for the period from April 1992 to December 1993 can be found in table 2 on page 101 of the citizens charter second report which is in the Library.
Comparable information for 1994 is not yet available.
§ Mr. MeacherTo ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what is the basis of his calculation that market testing of central Government public services has saved £135 million; if he will give a precise breakdown of each main component of this total; and what period is covered by these savings.
§ Mr. Waldegrave£135 million is the total annual saving for the period from April 1992 to December 1993, calculated by taking into consideration all those costs which are directly attributable to individual tests. The calculation is set out in the table.
405W
£ million Annual cost of activities before testing 1,119.2 Less Annual cost of activities after testing 980.0 Less Annualised redundancy costs 2.0 Other one-off costs attributable to tests, including consultancy support to in-house Less teams, annualised 1.5 Equals Annual savings attributable to tests 1135.6 1The figures do not sum exactly to the total because of rounding.