§ Mr. RedmondTo ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what consideration has been given to market testing the services provided by his Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency; and if he will make a statement. [31554]
§ Mr. FreemanResponsibility for the subject of the question has been delegated to the CCTA under its chief executive, Mr. Robin Guenier. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from Robert Guenier to Mr. Martin Redmond, dated 10 June 1996:
The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster has asked me to reply to your Parliamentary Question concerning market testing of CCTA's services.You will be aware that, following CCTA's becoming a Next Steps Agency on 1 April 1996, one of the objectives of the Chief Executive is to achieve full cost recovery by financial year 1997–98. In conjunction with this objective, the Chief Executive is also required to achieve demanding annual financial, efficiency and quality of service targets.265WWith this in mind, I have a responsibility to ensure that all CCTA services are competitive and provide value for money to those who use them. CCTA, therefore, makes use of whatever efficiency savings are appropriate to achieve these objectives, market testing being one of many options. Of course, use of CCTA's services is not mandatory and departments and Agencies do so at their own discretion. It is, therefore, important for users of our services to ensure that they do so taking into account options such as market testing.