§ Miss Joan Hallasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a progress report on the Public Sector Purchasing Group since its inception in 1969, stating the costs to Treasury funds to date; the number of people permanently employed; and the number brought in in an advisory capacity.
§ Mr. Patrick JenkinThe Public Sector Standardisation Team, as it is called, was established following the announcement by the then Chief Secretary to the Treasury on 15th October, 1969 (Vol.788, c. 405–410). This group, under Treasury chairmanship, comprises representatives of the nationalised industries, the major purchasing Departments, the G.L.C., and the Joint Advisory Committee on Local Authority Purchasing.
346WThe team's terms of reference are as follows:
To co-ordinate existing activities in the field of standardisation and variety reduction of common user items in the public sector including the wider co-ordination, where appropriate, of purchasing arrangements. To select suitable common user items for examination with a view to further standardisation and variety reduction, including where appropriate, the wider co-ordination of purchasing arrangements; and to establish working groups at a technical level to carry out studies of these items and submit recommendations to the Team.Working groups have been set up, under the chairmanship of the predominant public purchaser, for the following items: lifts, fire-fighting equipment, flanges and valves, industrial trucks, paints, oils and greases, floor coverings, canteen equipment, canteen furniture and fittings, textiles, electronic components, cranes, electric cables, cleaning materials, electric lamps and computer listing paper.At present three Treasury officials are engaged in this work, two part-time. The total cost to Treasury funds for the first full year of the team's operation, when the three officials were engaged full time, was approximately £20,000. No one has been engaged for this work in an advisory capacity. The total number of public sector personnel who, as part of their normal functions, have attended meetings of the team and its working groups is roughly 250.