§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the estimated cost for the average hospital of monitoring services provided by an external contractor compared with having the service provided internally.
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeWe do not collect this information centrally. Authorities need to monitor the standards of in-house or contractor-provided services. We have advised health authorities that any extra cost of monitoring should be included when comparing the lowest commercial tender with the in-house tender.