Market Testing (Hansard, 10 February 1993)

§ Mr. McAllion
To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage if he will list all the market tests that have taken place in his Department since November 1991; whether the result was the maintenance of in-house provision or whether the service was contracted out; what was the name of the successful contractor where appropriate; and if he will make a statement.

§ Mr. Key
My Department is currently in the process of contracting out a range of central services, including mailroom services, minor maintenance, office cleaning, porterage, reprographics, security, central typing and secretarial cover. No contracts have yet been awarded for these. The Department has awarded a contract to Sema Group Limited for the supply of computer equipment and associated services.
Royal parks division contracted out grounds maintenance work in February 1992. The successful contractors were: Brophy plc, Glendale Industries Limited, Serco plc, Turfsoil Limited and Tyler Environmental Services Limited. The division is currently market testing building agent services and estates management.

§ Mr. McAllion
To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage how many staff in his Department are assigned to the market testing programme; how much the programme has cost his Department since November 1991; and if he will make a statement.

§ Mr. Key
A small number of staff in my Department have been assigned to work on the market testing programme amongst their other duties. The total cost of the programme since November 1991 would include staff costs and associated overheads, plus consultancy fees of £541,198. It is not readily possible to separate the cost of the relatively minor staff involvement and overheads to give an overall total.

§ Mr. McAllion
To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage if he will list the firms of consultants used by his Department as part of the market testing programme since November 1991 together with the total cost; and if she will make a statement.

§ Mr. Key
Five firms of consultants have been used to advise on areas which are now the responsibility of my Department since November 1991: PE International have advised on the provision of central services in the Department; Cluttons, Watts and Partners and Gillhespies have advised my Department's Royal Parks Division; and Land Use Consultants have advised the Historic Royal Palaces agency. The total cost of consultancies is £541,198. A proportion of this cost would have been met by the Department of the Environment, which was responsible for the royal parks and the Historic Royal Palaces agency until April 1992.