§ Mr. SumbergTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what action he has decided to take in relation to Bury metropolitan borough council following the notices served on it on 12 June and 29 August 1995 and to Oldham metropolitan borough council following the notice served on it on 15 August 1995 for anti-competitive behaviour in assigning certain services in-house. [15649]
§ Sir Paul BeresfordOn 12 June and 29 August 1995, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State served notices on Bury metropolitan borough council, setting out his view that the authority had acted anti-competitively during a competition for refuse collection, street cleaning, public convenience cleaning and highways maintenance work worth £1.95 million per annum. On 15 August 1995, my right hon. Friend also served a notice on Oldham metropolitan borough council setting out his view that the authority had acted anti-competitively during a competition for the north-west area (area 2) building maintenance contract worth approximately £1.5 million per annum.
My right hon. Friend has given careful consideration to the authorities' responses to the notices.
Bury withheld information from private contractors relating to depot facilities and to the available vehicle fleet. In my right hon. Friend's view this was unfair as it made it impossible for private contractors to put in bids for the work based on the same information as was available to the in-house team. He has therefore today given the authority a direction which requires it to re-tender the refuse collection, street cleaning, public convenience cleaning and highways maintenance work by 14 October. It must seek his consent if, at the end of the re-tendering process, it plans to assign the work to its direct services organisation.
Oldham required prospective contractors to undertake to submit a TUPE bid—one incorporating the present staff's terms and conditions—if they were given the TUPE information. In my right hon. Friend's view, private contractors who have been given details of the present terms and conditions should still be allowed the freedom to bid using different assumptions because the 663W in-house team can revise the way in which it delivers the work and it is unfair to deny this to some of the bidders. He has therefore today given the authority a direction which requires it to re-tender the north-west area (area 2) building maintenance contract by 14 October. The direction bars its direct services organisation from undertaking the work in future.