§ J. H. Osbornasked the Minister of Health what guidance he has given to hospital boards in development areas regarding obtaining supplies, including capital equipment, from local manufacturers; and what guidance he has given as to the extent to which local tenders may be higher than those obtained from elsewhere, and still be accepted.
§ Mr. SnowAll hospital authorities in England and Wales have been asked to observe the Government's arrangements for giving general preference in the award of public contracts to firms in development areas. These arrangements require that, where other things are equal, including price, quality and delivery date, contracts shall be placed in the qualifying areas in preference to those elsewhere. Hospital authorities are not expected to give preference to development area firms if on price grounds alone extra expense would be entailed.
The application of these preference arrangements to the wider development areas introduced by the Development Areas Order 1966 (S.I. 1966, No. 1032) was brought to the attention of all hospital authorities in November, 1966.