§ Mr. GeorgeTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many private security firms have been employed by his Department for each of the last 10 years; what has been the annual value of the contracts; and if he will estimate how many guards have been employed for each of those years.
§ Mr. RedwoodDuring the past 10 years my Department has regularly employed two private security firms under contracts valued as follows:
Year £000s 1984–85 73 1985–86 85 1986–87 88 1987–88 89 1988–89 92 1989–90 99 1990–91 105 1991–92 115 1992–93 119 1993–94 133 I estimate that 10 guards were needed in each of the years from 1984–85 to 1990–91 and 9 from 1991–92 to 1993–94.
During the 1991–92 financial year, Cadw Welsh Historic Monuments, an executive agency within my Department made use of a private security firm for a special event at a cost of £ 9,000. The number of security employees involved is not known.