§ Mr. DalyellTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is his policy on putting out to tender the maintenance and minor works services currently carried out by the Property Services Agency for the armed services in Northern Ireland following the privatisation of the Property Services Agency in 1992.
§ Mr. Archie HamiltonFrom 1 April 1990, the MOD will be "untied" from the PSA. Untying gives the MOD a number of new responsibilities, including choosing who should supply its works services. From that date, the MOD will be mounting a number of competitions for design and project management for major new works. We will also be testing the market, in a variety of locations, for the provision of property management services covering minor new works and certain maintenance tasks.
The first phases of market testing of property management cover sites in Great Britain; it is not currently planned to extend this early market testing to Northern Ireland.
The Government are reviewing whether any aspects of the current arrangements for works services in Northern Ireland are unsuitable for execution by the private sector and, if necessary, alternative arrangements will be made.