§ Ms ShipleyTo ask the President of the Board of Trade if she will make a statement about the respective roles of her Department and Her Majesty's Treasury in procurement policy. [10590]
§ Mrs. BeckettAt present, the Treasury is responsible for all aspects of public procurement policy. This includes public spending and value for money, both core Treasury functions, as well as EU and World Trade Organisation public procurement policy in which DTI has the major interest because of its responsibilities for completion of the single market and for trade policy. In my view, and that of my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the time has come to address this anomaly. He and I have agreed that our Departments should be jointly responsible for the procurement policy team, which is concerned primarily with UK procurement policy and the EC public procurement directives.
The team will report to senior officials and Ministers in DTI on EU and WTO public procurement policy and to Treasury officials and Ministers on other issues. Officials will agree a short memorandum of understanding setting out the respective responsibilities and arrangements for ensuring co-ordination with other units 675W in both Departments. A similar model of joint responsibility with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office already operates successfully in DTI in respect of the Joint Export Promotion Directorate and the Invest in Britain Bureau.