§ Mr. David Marshallasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list in the Official Report the total value of work of all kinds put out to consultants by the Scottish Development Agency for each of the last five years, the name of each company and the value of each contract awarded; whether the contract was awarded on the basis of tenders in each case; and if he will give the reasons in those cases where tenders were not invited.
§ Mr. Lang[pursuant to his reply, 10 April 1987, c. 467]: The amounts spent by the Scottish Development Agency on consultants' fees for the last five years are given in the following table. A detailed breakdown comprising the names of companies which have successfully tendered for contracts and the value of those contracts cannot be provided without incurring disproportionate expense and breaching commercial confidentiality. It is Scottish Development Agency practice to require all contracts to the value greater than £2,000 to go to competitive tender with not less than three quotations required. This requirement is breached only in exceptional circumstances, eg where the source of expertise can only be obtained from one party; in such cases a single tender procedure is followed.
Capital Revenue Total 1981–82 7,493,870 3,115,748 10,609,618 1982–83 9,308,420 4,265,553 13,574,473 1983–84 8,329,566 5,086,337 13,415,903 1984–85 10,167,582 4,953,324 15,120,906 1985–86 10,816,582 8,568,179 19,384,767 1986–87 12,568,022 6,851,863 19,419,885 Note A: The capital column includes fees to civil engineers, architects, surveyors, heating and electrical consultants.
Note B: The revenue column includes fees on research and development, advisory services, appraisal and administration, ie tax and accountancy advice, pension and legal consultancies.