§ Mr. Eggarasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will list the occasions on which his Department has used from outside the Civil Service (a) accountants, (b) management consultants and (c) other consultants since June 1979, giving in each case the dates and nature of the assignment, together with the names of the individuals, partnerships or institutions involved.
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeI regret that comprehensive information on the lines requested by my hon. Friend could not be produced without disproportionate effort. However the following list, produced from centrally held records, includes the more significant instances since June 1979 when the Department has used accountants and consultants from outside the Civil Service.
(a) Accountants Date commissioned and assignment Contractor 1981—Design of a budgetary control system for DHSS Price Waterhouse Associates 1982—Implementation of the budgetary control system Price Waterhouse Associates 1982—Control of expenditure in the family practitioner service Binder Hamlyn With effect from 1 April 1982 Statutory Auditors from the private sector have been appointed by my right hon. Friend for an experimental period of some 3–5 years as follows:
Date Commissioned and Assignment Contractor East Cumbria DHA Robson Rhodes Chartered Accountants South Cumbria DHA Robson Rhodes Chartered Accountants West Cumbria DHA Neville Russell Chartered Accountants Hammersmith and Fulham DHA Armitage and Norton Chartered Accountants Hounslow and Spelthorne DHA Armitage and Norton Chartered Accountants Ealing DHA Coopers and Lybrand Chartered Accountants Cornwall and Isles of Scilly DHA Ernst and Whinney Chartered Accountants Isle of Wight DHA Deloitte Haskins and Sells Chartered Accountants 301W
Date commissioned and assignment Contractor (b) Management Consultants 1979—Taxation of Unemployment Benefit Arthur Young Management Services 1979—Market research into methods of payment of benefit Research Survey of Great Britain Ltd. 1979—Review of the usuage of periodicals and branch libraries Capital Planning Information
Date Commissioned and Assignment Contractor 1980—To devise a methodology to identify areas of work amenable to computer assistance Pactel 1980—A study to consider the effectiveness of DHSS forms, and to suggest improvements Social and Community Planning Reserach 1980—A study of the arrangements for determining staffing levels in certain areas of DHSS Newcastle Central Office The Anne Shaw Organisation 1980—Assistance with a questionnaire sent to local office managers Buller Cox and Partners 1982—Development and testing of a new form Open University 1982—Staffing and equipment requirements for a forms unit E. Hoch (c) Other consultants 1979—Amendment of Resource Allocation Working Party Trace (Manpower) Ltd. 1979—Second phase of a study to assist the Review of Policy for the mentally handicapped A. Anderson and Co. 1979—Study of the wider use of the balance of care approach A. Anderson and Co. 1979—Manpower implications of the run down of a large psychiatric hospital Institute of Manpower Studies 1979—Comparative study of ORS planning methodologies Logica 1979—Guidance on "Uses of Manpower Information for Operational Planning" for NHS use. IMS in conjunction with an NHS officer 1980—A labour market study in the Tyneside conurbation IMS 1980—A study of Nurse Manpower Systems in South West Thames RHA IMS 1980—Extensions to "Portable balance of care" study A. Anderson 1980—Hospitalisation rates and patient flows Arthur Young Management Services 1980—Location of social security work Logica 1980—Study of the capacity of schools of nursing—plus extension Coopers Lybrand Ass. 1980—Local health care planning studies—balance of care IBCM Exeter University 1980—Studies in connection with cancer Research Centre for the mathematical Modelling of Clerical Trials University of Warwick 1980—Second phase of a project to design and program a medical manpower planning model Scientific and Business Systems 1980—OR studies of hospital stores, manpower planning, and social security benefits National Coal Board Operational Research Executive 1981—Number and location of Social Security Training Courses Logica Ltd. 1981—Nursing manpower planning: linking supply and demand modelling Institute of manpower studies
1950 1960 1970 1980 1981 NHS directly employed staff (UK)—Thousands not available 565 741 1,228 1,264 Note: These figures are from Department of Employment returns. This is the only source to yield overall totals of directly employed NHS staff for the years in question. A strict comparison of the 1980 and 1981 figures with those of earlier years is not possible because of the effects of the 1974 reorganisation of the NHS, when a considerable number of local authority employees in the community services were transferred to the NHS.