§ Mr. Lawrenceasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what proportion of the hospital service subcontracts (a) its laundry, and (b) its catering to private firms; and what evidence there is that this has been cost-effective.
§ Sir George YoungInformation in the form requested is not collected centrally, but, in 1979–80 laundry and catering contracts accounted for 14.1 per cent, and 0.2 per 33W cent, respectively of the total spent on those services in England by the National Health Service as a whole. The figure for laundry contracts includes some placed by health authorities with other public bodies. It is for individual authorities to decide in the light of local needs and circumstances whether work should be put out to contract, and I should expect them to have regard to estimates of cost-effectiveness in reaching their decision.