§ 33. Mr. Skinnerasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will list the number of privatisation programmes in the Health Service.
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeThere are no plans to transfer responsibility for any part of the National Health Service to the private sector, and therefore no "programmes for privatisation" of health care. However, all health authorities have been asked to draw up programmes for testing the cost effectiveness of their domestic, catering and laundry services by putting them to competitive tender, including in-house tenders. We also encourage health authorities to test the cost effectiveness of all their other support services in this way. The aim is to reduce unnecessary expenditure on support costs so that the authorities can increse the amount and quality of patient care that they can provide.