§ Mr. JackTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what savings have been made across local government as a whole as a result of subjecting local authority contracts to competitive tendering.
§ Mr. Heathcoat-AmoryNo precise figures are available at present. However, the Audit Commission's occasional paper "Preparing for Compulsory Competition" published in January last year indicated that local authorities can obtain savings of 20 per cent. or more in contract price, irrespective of whether work has been won by the private sector or by an authority's own work force.