HC Deb 21 May 1996 vol 278 c160W
Mr. Redmond

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list for each of her Department's agencies what market testing has been carried out into the services they provide and what were the results. [30116]

Sir Paul Beresford

Since April 1992 the Department's remaining agencies market tested the following services:

Agency Outcome
Building Research Establishment
Engineering workshop Test replaced by efficiency review resulting in savings.
Staff catering Won by private sector
Audio visual services In-house win
Office and printing services In-house win
The Planning Inspectorate
Secretarial support In-house win

Two agencies, the Security Facilities Executive and the Buying Agency, previously the responsibility of this Department, have now moved to the Office of Public Service. In addition, the Department has itself tested the services provided by its agencies as follows: management of the Queen Elizabeth 11 Conference Centre, which was won in-house; 21 separate research projects, which would previously have been undertaken by the Building Research establishment, with the result that 15 have been won by the private sector.