§ Mr. SheermanTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many of his Department's staff are involved in monitoring and checking the quality of servicing and maintenance carried out by TNT on Green Goddess vehicles;
(2) how many quality assurance and budgetary officers have been recruited to supervise the servicing and maintenance of the Green Goddess fleet by TNT;
(3) if he is satisfied with the quality and level of servicing and maintenance presently being carried out by TNT on the Green Goddess fleet.
§ Mr. John PattenArrangements are currently in hand for recruiting two quality assurance and budgetary officers. In the meantime, the servicing and maintenance of the Green Goddess fleet by TNT is being overseen by a Home Office official on site to ensure that the work is being carried out to an acceptable level.
§ Mr. SheermanTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what is(a) the current cost of the TNT contract for servicing the Green Goddess fire appliances and (b) the original agreed contract price;
(2) what is the value of contracts entered into by his Department with (a) TNT plc and (b) C. Walton Ltd. of Bruntingthorpe airfield.
§ Mr. John PattenFormal contracts are still under negotiation and it is unlikely that they will be signed until planning permission has been received for the construction of a purpose-built storage facility at Bruntingthorpe airfield. In the meantime, interim arrangements entered564W into with TNT plc and C. Walton Ltd. for storing and servicing the Green Goddess fire appliances have been given effect through restricted instructions which are limited in both time and value. The details of these arrangements must, necessarily, remain commercially confidential.
§ Mr. SheermanTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how long he intends to retain the present level of servicing and maintenance of the fleet of emergency fire service vehicles and equipment.
§ Mr. John PattenThe current level for servicing and maintaining the fleet of emergency fire service vehicles and equipment will continue for as long as is considered necessary. The proposed contract, which will ensure the maintenance of the fleet to current in-house standards, will be for an initial period of five years with an option for a further period of five years to run consecutively.
§ Mr. SheermanTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the in-house tender price for the contract to service the Green Goddess fire appliance fleet.
§ Mr. John PattenIn accordance with Treasury guidelines the in-house organisation did not tender for the contract to service the Green Goddess fire appliance fleet, but provided estimates of costs and service levels as the base line against which the commercial tenders were to be compared and contrasted.
§ Mr. SheermanTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what is the extra cost in building, land and plant incurred by his Department as a result of putting the servicing of Green Goddess fire appliances out to private tender;
(2) what extra facilities his Department is supplying in terms of land, buildings and plant to TNT to enable it to carry out the servicing of the Green Goddess fire appliance fleet.
§ Mr. John PattenUnder the proposed contracts for servicing the Green Goddess fire appliances all necessary buildings and land are to be supplied by the contractors. Minor items of plant, which formed part of the Green Goddess fleet and were used to service the appliances, have been made available to TNT.