§ Mr. McNamaraTo ask the President of the Board of Trade (1) in what circumstances he will allow in-house bids at Companies House and the Patent Office, following his recent statements on the futures of these two organisations; [16985]
(2) what method will be used at Companies House and the Patent Office to determine whether or not it will provide value for money to contract out services in comparison to continuing with the current in-house provision. [16979]
§ Mr. Jonathan EvansExisting employees may bid for contracts on the basis that, if successful, they would carry out the work as private sector contractors.
The basis for assessing bids will be overall value for money, including both cost and quality of service. On cost, bids will be assessed against the benchmark of forecast costs to carry out the function within the public sector, taking into account any planned efficiencies.
§ Mr. McNamaraTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what is the full cost, from 1991 to date, of the reviews into the futures of(a) Companies House and (b) the Patent Office. [16980]
648W
§ Mr. Jonathan EvansThe full costs of the reviews into the futures of(a) Companies House and (b) the Patent Office are not available, although internal and external costs are taken into account in the DTI efficiency plan. The costs of consultancy advice to the reviews since 1991 are £283,000 and £135,000 respectively, both figures being exclusive of VAT.