§ Mr. Campbell-Savoursasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what savings he foresees from the retention of an in-house Government building design unit in the Property Services Agency as opposed to the use of outside contractors.
§ Sir George YoungThe report of the working group on design costs, concluded that the additional costs to the Property Services Agency of placing more work with consultants could be of the order of 10 per cent. to 20 per cent. Copies of the report were placed in the Library on 28 July.
However the analysis was necessarily based on historic information. The present position is different. The agency is now using fewer practices in order to build up expertise and to obtain the benefits of improved continuity. Moreover, the imminent introduction of fee competition should further reduce the cost of employing consultants. The appropriate balance between in-house and out-house resources is being kept under review in the light of these changes.