§ Mr. HendersonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many vehicles and at what value were purchased by(a) his Department and (b) other public sector agencies for which he is responsible, in 1988; and how many of these vehicles were British-made within the definition of British as set out by the Department of Trade and Industry in its arrangement on content with the European Community.
§ Mr. FreemanOnly 5 per cent. of the vehicles purchased in 1988 for the then Department of Health and Social Security were for the use of Department of Health staff and some 60 per cent. of all DHSS vehicles purchased in that year were United Kingdom produced on the definition employed by the DTI for statistical purposes under which a vehicle is classified as United Kingdom produced if the United Kingdom content exceeds 50 per cent. of the ex-works price.
Information in the form requested in respect of the purchase of NHS vehicles is not available centrally. This is a matter for each regional and district health authority. The total value of vehicles purchased in the NHS in 1987–88, the latest year for which figures are available, was £22.371 million.