§ Mr. Sean HughesTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence to what extent deficiencies in privatised gardening, cleaning and catering work at Army establishments are made good by service personnel; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. SainsburyThere are currently around 200 catering, cleaning and gardening contracts running at Army establishments and a further 16 let but yet to start. Contractors have taken on work previously performed by around 140 military and 4,900 civilian staff. Contracts are monitored continuously and the great majority run satisfactorily. There have been a few instances where Army personnel have been called upon to make up for recruitment difficulties being experienced by contractors but such occurrences have been very infrequent and are generally confined to the early stages of contracts.