HC Deb 07 December 1993 vol 234 cc125-6W
Mr. Malcolm Bruce

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what steps he has taken to ensure that, when putting contracts out to tender, his Department includes on the tender list companies which have acquired the BS5750 quality assurance standard.

Mr. Baldry

My Department fully recognises the value of BS5750 as a quality assurance standard but it does not make this, as a matter of course, a prerequisite for tendering in order to allow small firms, for which the cost of certification can represent a burden, the opportunity to compete.