§ Mr. DevlinTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what value for money savings have been achieved by his Department in the last year; and how much of this was as a result of advice from the Central Unit on Purchasing.
§ Lord James Douglas-Hamilton[holding answer 11 May 1990]: The Scottish Office pursues value for money in all its activities. So far as the costs of the Scottish Office itself are concerned, these were calculated on the basis that 1.5 per cent. efficiency gains would be delivered in 1989–90. These gains represent initiatives at every level to improve output and reduce costs.
The Central Unit on Purchasing provides general advice and guidance and monitors progress. It also co-ordinates the Government purchasing initiative. While, in general, it is not possible to attribute particular value for money savings to specific advice from the unit, value for money improvements in purchasing are published each year in a report from the Central Unit on Purchasing to the Prime Minister. In the 1989 report, the Scottish Office showed improvements in value for money in 1988–89 (the latest year for which figures are available) amounting to £12.96 million or 6.6 per cent. of its total expenditure on procurement of £196.3 million.