§ Sir Paul BeresfordTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions, pursuant to his answer of 30 March 2000,Official Report, column 228W, on housing improvement agencies, what previous experience Collective Enterprises Ltd. has had in administering Government grants; and on what basis he determined that CEL possessed (a) broad-based expertise in housing and care issues, (b) the capacity to support individual agencies and their managing agents across England and (c) the ability to deliver services from a position of independence and impartiality. [121844]
§ Mr. MullinOfficials of my Department and the Department of Health evaluated the tenders received from Care and Repair England Ltd. and Collective Enterprises Ltd. (CEL) against a range of criteria, including those mentioned by the hon. Member, and recommended that CEL's tender as a whole offered a more effective approach to the delivery of the requirements of the national coordinating role. My Department's contract with CEL does not require them to administer the system of grants to individual home improvement agencies.