§ Mr. Marplesasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what products, used by more than one Department, are currently procured by one Department on behalf of all user Departments; what additions have been made to this list in the past three years; how many staff, by number and grades, are allotted full-time to securing additions to this list; and by what yardstick their performance of this task is judged.
§ Mr. TaverneAircraft, aero-space products and certain electronic equipment; food and drink; most clothing and textiles; stationery and office machinery and other equipment; medical equipment and drugs; most vehicles; buildings; furniture, furnishings and domestic equipment; and petroleum products.
No substantial additions have been made during the last three years to this list, which comprises over two-thirds by value of all Government purchasing. Although no staff are employed full-time in securing extensions, constant attention is paid to possible opportunities.
§ Mr. Marplesasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what products are procured by a single central Government Department on behalf of users in the nationalised industries, by which nationalised industries on behalf of users in that industry, and one or more central Government Departments; and what products are procured by single central Government Departments on behalf of local authorities.
§ Mr. TaverneArrangements are being examined for the supply to nationalised industries, through departmental purchasing arrangements, of furniture, furnishings, domestic and kitchen equipment, and fire fighting appliances. Such products have been made available, on an experimental basis, to a selection of local authorities (and some of them to local education authorities generally): certain medical equipment is made available to local health authorities as well as to128W hospitals, and certain radio equipment is purchased for all police authorities. Consideration is being given to the extension of similar arrangements to a wider range of products. It is hoped that nationalised industries may be able to reciprocate, as has one major local authority.
§ Mr. Marplesasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what was the total value of Government procurement with each of the industry orders 1-XXII in the latest year for which figures are available and what proportion of the total output of each sector Government expenditure represented.
§ Mr. TaverneThe approximate total value of contracts let by major purchasing Departments during the financial year 1967–68 under industry orders of the 1958 Standard Industrial Classification was as follows:
Older Aproximate total value £ million I negligible II negligible III 5.1 IV 67.3 V 11.8 VI 417.4 VII 47.4 VIII. 245.5 IX 15.3 X 14.6 XI negligible XII 9.8 XIII 6.2 XIV 9.5 XV 29.2 XVI 23.1 XVII 177.4 XVIII 18.0 Total (I-XVIII) 1,097.6 XIX-XXII inclusive—not obtainable without disproportionate expense. No more up-to-date figures of the output of each industrial sector are available than those provided by the Census of Production for 1962–63.