§ Mr. WatsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list those core services which NHS trusts in Scotland may contract out through the competitive tendering process. [27048]
§ Lord James Douglas-HamiltonSince 1983, the Government's policy has been for domestic, cleaning, catering, laundry and similar non-core support services to be routinely market tested. It is for NHS trusts to decide which other services would benefit from being subjected to market testing in response to local circumstances, ensuring that the best quality health care and use of resources is achieved.
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§ Mr. WatsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many NHS trusts in Scotland have put support services out to competitive tender; and in how many of these cases an in-house tender was received. [27051]
§ Lord James Douglas-HamiltonBy 1991, virtually all hospital ancillary services in the NHS in Scotland had been put out to tender by health boards. As NHS trusts were established, the trust boards assumed responsibility for the management of the existing contracts and for the market testing of such other services as they considered appropriate. Comprehensive information on the number of in-house tenders received is not centrally available, but from a total of 410 contracts awarded following market testing since December 1987,65 per cent. were won by in-house teams.