§ Mr. FraserTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what estimate he has made of the cost or savings to his Department of contracting out of the Insolvency Service.
§ Mr. Jonathan EvansThe consultants, Stoy Hayward Consulting, concluded that value for money and other potential benefits needed to be definitively tested; and that the bidding process would provide such a test of value for money.
§ Mr. FraserTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what assessment he has made of the applicability of the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Order 1981 to the contracting out by his Department of the Insolvency Service.
§ Mr. Jonathan EvansNo decision to contract out work of official receivers has been taken; any decision would be subject to the Deregulation and Contracting Out Act 1994 and the procedures applicable to contracting out which are set out in it.
In the circumstances it is too early to consider the issue of Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 1981, the implications of which may not become clear until the nature of proposals in any bidding process could be assessed.
760W
§ Mr. FraserTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what was the cost of the Lois computer system; for what purpose it was designed; and what estimate he has made as to whether his Department will recover the cost of investment in the Lois computer system following the contracting out of the Insolvency Service.
§ Mr. Jonathan EvansThe estimated cost of the Lois computer system, which is designed to assist official receivers in the administration of cases and in particular with the production of the many documents that have to be prepared, is £8,490,150.
As no decision to contract out the work of official receivers has been taken, the question of whether the costs of Lois would be recovered in the event of such a decision has not yet been considered.