§ Mr. GrayTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to his Answer of 14 October 2003,Official Report, column 141W, on Project ASPIRE, on what date Inland Revenue first held a meeting to which it invited all suppliers with whom it was engaging in the market-making exercise for Project ASPIRE; and which of the suppliers did not attend. [152231]
§ Dawn PrimaroloAs I stated in my answer of 14 October 2003,Official Report, column 140W, the Inland Revenue actively engaged with 14 suppliers in the course of the market-making exercise for Project ASPIRE. My answer provided the names of these companies. These suppliers were offered initial meetings with the Inland Revenue, and these took place during November and December 2001. None of the suppliers directly approached by the Inland Revenue, as part of this exercise, refused the opportunity to discuss the ASPIRE competition.
An open meeting was held for all interested suppliers on 7 March 2002, which was attended by 42 potential suppliers. No one supplier was directly approached for this meeting, instead the event was advertised through the Inland Revenue's website.
§ Mr. GrayTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to his answer of 16 December 2003,Official Report, column 803W, who the board member responsible for Mr. John Yard's division was; and when he commenced planning for project ASPIRE. [152233]
§ Dawn PrimaroloAs I stated in my answer of 16 December 2003,Official Report, column 803W, planning for the ASPIRE project began in January 2001. The Board member responsible for Business Services at that time was Tim Flesher, the Inland Revenue's Deputy Chairman. After Tim Flesher moved to another Government Department in April 2003, Helen Ghosh took on Board level responsibility for Business Services.