§ Mrs. RocheTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what has been the cost to public funds of the proposed contracting out of insolvency casework as broken down into(a) the pre-feasibility study, (b) the feasibility study, (c) the 1995 advertisements, (d) the handling of the 149 expressions of interest, (e) the requirements scoping document, (f) the sifting of the 91 initial proposals, (g) the negotiations with 34 companies, (h) the invitation to tender, (i) the identification of three tenders offering value for money and (j) the stringent technical and financial evaluation; and what was the total cost of this exercise. [19584]
§ Mr. Phillip Oppenheim[holding answer 11 March 1996]: The cost of the pre-feasibility and feasibility studies into the scope for private sector involvement in the work of official receivers was £65,251 and £61,500 —excluding VAT—respectively.
The costs of the contracting out exercise undertaken by the Insolvency Service, in the period beginning October 1994 when the Government announced their intention to pursue the preferred option identified by the then consultants to the announcement on 28 February 1996 of the outcome was £2,288,594. This figure could be broken down into the areas specified only at disproportionate cost.
As a result of the drive for greater efficiency implemented during the period of the contracting-out exercise, the service will achieve a reduction this financial year of 3 per cent. in the unit costs of bankruptcy and company liquidations.
I expect to announce shortly the targets which I have set for the Insolvency Service in 1996–97, which will look to the service to delivery substantial further savings above that level.