§ Mr. FatchettTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his answer of 20 December,Official Report, column 1166, where details of contracts awarded by his Department's central contracts branch are held; and what consideration he has given to collecting these details centrally.
§ Mr. Freeman[holding answer Tuesday 10 January 1995]: Financial and management responsibility for all goods and services purchased by my Department, including consultancy work, rests with individual budget holders. Large and valuable contracts are, however, placed by the appropriate central contracts branch in order to ensure an additional degree of oversight in entering into such important commitments. Although records are kept, for a time, of the value of, and parties to, such contracts, there is no requirement for the relevant contracts branch including the central contracts branch to maintain a full description of the purpose for which each contract was let; that remains the responsibility of the budgetary area concerned. There is no need for contracts branches to keep detailed information after the work is finished; and there are no Defence management reasons for collecting or maintaining details centrally. Finally, consultancy, in whatever form, routinely constitutes but one element in larger contracts and is often not separately identified or costed in such records as are held.