§ Dr. GodmanTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list each contract made with NHS trusts by(a) the Scottish Office and (b) the health boards for the most recent available year.
§ Mr. Stewart[holding answer 15 December 1992]: The contracts made between NHS trusts and the Scottish Office in the financial year 1992–93 are:
- Cardiac Surgery
- Aberdeen Royal Hospitals Trust
- The Reference Laboratory Services
Type of contract Year 1989 1990 1991 1992 1A B A B A B A B Hotel services2 — — — — — — 1 — Domestic — 9 — — — — — 3 Catering — 1 — — — — — — Portering 2 1 — 8 — — — — Painterwork — — — — 3 2 4 6 Grounds maintenance — — — — — — 1 6 Totals 2 11 — 8 3 2 6 15 1A—Argyll and Clyde Health Board. B—Greater Giasgow Health Board. 2Hotel services is used in this contexst to describe a combined contract covering domestic, catering and portering services. Since the introduction of the competitive tendering initiative in the NHS, Argyll and Clyde health board has awarded 40 contracts of which 11, 28 per cent., have been won by private contracts. Greater Glasgow health board has let 78 contracts of which 39, 50 per cent., were to outside firms. Throughout Scotland 86 out of a total of 351 contracts, 25 per cent., have been awarded privately.
The Government's White Paper "Competing for Quality" (Command Paper 1730), sets out a programme for extending market testing to a wider range of activities. As a result of market testing in the NHS in Scotland, over £90 million has been saved. This money has been retained by health boards for re-investment in patient care.