§ Mr. DevlinTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what are his proposals for bringing competition to bear on police finance services. [27163]
§ Mr. MacleanIt is the Government's intention that compulsory competitive tendering should be introduced to police white collar support services as part of a rolling programme. Detailed consultation proposals for police finance services were issued on 27 July 1995. The Government have now considered the responses received from the police service, local authority associations and other interested bodies.
The Government have decided that police authorities will be subject to the same CCT regime for finance services as other authorities defined under the Local Government Act 1988, except for a number of specific exemptions, and a reduction in the overall competition requirement. The exemptions take account of the 266W specialist nature of police work, and focus on the financial advice given in support of operational aspects of crime investigation.