§ Mr. Chopeasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) whether he will publish the latest information he has about the number of (a) laundry, (b) domestic and (c) cleaning contracts submitted for competitive tender by health authorities, the proportion of each awarded "in-house" and to outside companies and the savings resulting therefrom.
(2) what were the cumulative savings at the end of 1985 made by health authorities as a result of submitting laundry, domestic and cleaning services to competitive tender.
§ Mr. Whitney[pursuant to his reply, 18 March 1986, c. 132]: The estimated savings at 31 December 1985 on 519 tendering excercises reported by health authorities were £41.9 million a year. The details are as follows:
Savings £ million 221 domestic awarded in house 15.9 97 domestic awarded to private contractors 16.5 119 catering awarded in house 4.6 7 catering awarded to private contractors 0.6 56 laundry awarded in house 3.2 19 laundry awarded to private contractors 1.1