§ Mr. Gryllsasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what proportion of the purchasing contracts issued by his Department in 1978–79 were by means of (a) selective tender, (b) open tender and (c) single tender.
§ Mr. Geoffrey FinsbergFor contracts for the supply of goods and services the proportions by value were (a) 93.1 per cent., by means of selective tender—that is limiting invitations to a realistic number of contractors, (b) nil by means of open tender and (c) 6.9 per cent. by means of single tender—of which about a third was work allocated under the Government priority suppliers scheme.
For works contracts the figures were (a) 96 per cent., (b) nil and (c) 4 per cent.