§ Mr. Geraint DaviesTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will make a statement on the involvement of the private sector in providing office support services for the Benefits Agency and Child Support Agency. [56407]
§ Angela EagleMy right hon. Friend the previous Secretary of State announced in July 1997 that we would proceed with PRIME (Private Sector Resource Initiative for Management of the Estate) and that we would explore whether further private sector involvement could improve the delivery of associated office support services, mainly in the Benefits Agency but also within the Child Support Agency.
We said that in proceeding with this project we expected to see an improved quality of services. We therefore asked officials to proceed with the tender but also to invite prices from in-house teams.
We want to ensure that the public gets the best services at the best price.
In the case of Accommodation and Office Services (AOS) we have looked at what both the private sector and in-house teams can offer and treated each case on its merits. During the process we have emphasised our concern for the treatment of any staff who transfer and stressed our commitment to the ongoing monitoring of suppliers in this respect.
Today's announcement demonstrates these policies. The services to Scotland, Fylde and Wales will be retained in-house and provided by BA staff under formal service 1187W level agreements (SLAs). In these areas in-house staff have demonstrated their ability to provide the best value for money.
For the other services, contracts have been awarded to:
- Trillium for office services to:
- Yorkshire and Tyne Tees
- North West Coast and Greater Manchester
- West Midlands and Mercia
- Haden Facilities Management for office services to:
- The South East, London and East Anglia
- The West Country and Chilterns.
In these cases staff from this Department and from other suppliers will transfer to the new suppliers with their terms and conditions protected by TUPE and with monitoring arrangements in place to ensure that staff are fairly treated.
These arrangements will provide the flexible, quality office services needed to support our modernisation of Social Security and our programme of welfare reform. One of the benefits of this approach is the rationalisation of the 48 contracts we inherited into a more flexible and efficient contracts regime to meet the changing business needs of the Benefits Agency and the Department.
The total cost of these contracts is £161 million over a three year period.