§ Mr. DevaTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what further action he proposes to take against those local authorities whose direct labour and direct service organisations failed to meet their statutory financial objectives in 1993 –94. [34236]
§ Sir Paul BeresfordOn 11 April this year, 36 statutory notices were served on 25 local authorities concerning the failure of their direct labour and service organisations (DLOs/DSOs) to meet the required financial objective in 1993 –94. My right hon. Friend has now considered the responses to those notices, and has today given directions to Carrick district council sports and leisure management; Cleveland county council, grounds maintenance; Croydon London borough council, grounds maintenance, sports and leisure management; Haringey London borough council, other catering; Kettering borough council, building maintenance; Leicestershire county council, grounds maintenance; Runnymede borough council, sports and leisure management; Scunthorpe borough council, refuse collection; South Lakeland district council, building maintenance and Watford borough council, other catering.
The directions take three different forms:
requiring the authority to retender all or part of the work, and to seek the Secretary of State's prior consent should they wish to award the work in-house. The work would need to be retendered or a new contract would need to have been awarded by specific dates: Carrick, sports and leisure management; Cleveland, grounds maintenance; Croydon London borough council, sports and leisure management; Haringey other catering; Leicestershire, grounds maintenance; Runnymede, sports and leisure management and Watford, other catering.preventing the authority from carrying out the work if it fails to meet the required financial objective in 1995 –96: South Lakeland, building maintenance.requiring the authority to retender the work if it fails to meet the required financial objective in a specified financial year or years, and to seek the Secretary of State's prior consent where the work has to be retendered and where the authority subsequently wish to award the work in-house:
- 1995 –96: Croydon, grounds maintenance; Scunthorpe, refuse collection.
- 1995 –96 and 1996 –97 Kettering, building maintenance.
The Secretary of State has also decided to take no further statutory action in respect of financial failure in 1993 –94 by Avon, grounds maintenance; Barnsley, sports and leisure management; Derby, building cleaning, sports and leisure management; Doncaster, grounds maintenance; Ealing, other catering; Easington, grounds maintenance, highways and sewers, new construction over £50,000, other catering, other cleaning; Greenwich, building maintenance, Halton, building maintenance, grounds maintenance, other catering; North Hertfordshire, other cleaning; Reigate and Banstead, grounds maintenance; Stafford, building maintenance, other catering, other cleaning; Thanet, other catering; Walsall, highways and sewers and Wyre, building maintenance.
547WDecisions on Lincolnshire county council's failure to meet the financial objective for highways and sewers work, and Walsall metropolitan borough council's failure to meet the financial objective for other catering have been deferred and will be announced at a later date.