§ Mr. McAllionTo ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (1) if he will define the role of the private sector forum on market testing, its terms of reference and the criteria used for issuing invitations to attend;
(2) if he will list the names of the individuals and companies of those invited to attend, and those who actually attended, the January meeting of the private sector forum on market testing;
(3) what safeguards exist to prevent those individuals and companies invited to take part as members of the private sector forum from financial gain from contracting out of Government services as a result of their membership of the forum;
(4) if he will list the names of the individuals and companies of those invited to attend the July meeting of the private sector forum on market testing.
§ Mr. WaldegraveThe role of the private sector forum is to provide a channel of communication on "Competing for Quality" issues between the private sector, central Departments, and other Departments and agencies.
126WThere are no formal terms of reference. The forum will provide an opportunity for the Government and the private sector to exchange experience on the "Competing for Quality" programme and to identify best practice which could be more widely adopted. No specific contracting opportunities will be discussed, and the forum will not provide a means of redress for companies which have failed to win competitions. Those matters must be discussed between bidders and individual Departments in the normal way. Invitations have been issued to a broad and representative range of those industries participating in the "Competing for Quality" programme.
The meeting in January was called to discuss with contractors and consultants the Government's intentions, as announced in the next steps review in December 1993, to publicise prior options reviews of agencies and to invite views from interested parties. Those present were:
- John Allen, BET Group
- John Barker, Kleinwort Benson
- Richard Benton, Capita Group plc
- Norman Biddle, Symonds Facilities Management plc
- Mark Call, QDM Limited
- Charles Cox, Hoskyns Group plc
- Peter Farmer, Ernst and Young
- Kit Farrow, Merchant Bank Association
- Paul Fuller, Touche Ross
- Marc Gillespie, 3i Group plc
- Peter Holmes, SEMA Group
- Richard Nicholls, Serco Group plc
- Francis Plowden, Coopers and Lybrand Deloitte
- Elizabeth Ransome, KPMG Peat Marwick
- Marwan Rifka, EDS-Scicon
- Peter Rowley, Grant Thornton
- Steven Unsworth, Price Waterhouse and Co.
- Vincent Watts, Andersen Consulting
- David van den Woude, Mackwood Finance
- Mathew Young, Y&S
Of those companies invited, only Owens Associates was unable to attend. There is no prospect of any of those individuals and companies securing financial gain by virtue of their attendance at the forum. Should any of the companies bid for work under the "Competing for Quality" programme, they will do so under the same competitive conditions as other bidders.
The following private sector representatives are expected to attend the private sector forum on 8 July.
- Rod Aldridge, Capita Group
- Maggi Bell, Manpower plc
- Norman Biddle, Symonds Facilities Management plc
- Gerry Bunn, Hunting Aircraft Ltd
- Tom Butler, EDS United Kingdom
- Charles Cox, Hoskyns plc
- Ian Downey, Serco Group plc
- John Hall, Business Services Association
- Peter Holmes, SEMA Group
- John Jack, PROCORD Ltd
- Brian Neylan, Securicor Group plc
- John Owens, Owens Associates