§ Rev. Martin SmythTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland why the Eastern health and social services board rejected the tender for laundry services in the Royal group of hospitals.
§ Mr. HanleyThe only tender received for the laundry services contract in the Royal group of hospitals unit of management was from the in-house contractor. Since that tender price substantially exceeded the present cost of the service, the Eastern health and social services board quite correctly decided in this particular case not to award the contract but to re-tender the work within 18 months.
§ Rev. Martin SmythTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what assessment has been made of the reasons for there having been only cross board and in-house tenders for laundry services in the Eastern health and social services board.
§ Mr. HanleyAll reasonable steps are taken to generate private sector interest in laundry services contracts. The small number of commercial firms with the capability of and interest in undertaking laundry contracts in Northern Ireland have decided not to submit tenders for contracts in EHSSB. Such decisions are a matter for them and I do not intend to speculate as to their reasons. However, the absence of private sector competition in this particular case does not prevent the board from achieving the objective of competitive tendering which is to test the cost-effectiveness of the service.