§ Mr. Gwilym JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he has received any responses to the statutory notices he issued to local authorities in Wales in respect of financial losses made by their direct service organisations.
§ Mr. Nicholas BennettResponses have been received from all the authorities, and I shall give careful consideration to them. Councils must be given every opportunity to provide their services in a way that gives best value to the chargepayer, and I believe that to achieve this it is essential to ensure that the private sector is given every opportunity of competing effectively. I believe that there is scope for improving the current competition arrangements, and for widening the range of activities open to tendering from private companies, and we shall be considering how these objectives can be attained.