§ Mr. Matthew TaylorTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to his answer of 19 March 2001,Official Report, column 29W, on CCTA, (1) what the total income and expenditure of the CCTA in the last five financial years for which information is available was; [155828]
(2) if he will place details of the CCTA's methods for calculating the savings from S-Cat and G-Cat in the Library; and what independent verification mechanism was used; [155830]
429W(3) on what dates reviews were completed of whether G-Cat and S-Cat are compliant with EC tendering rules; which organisation conducted these reviews; and if he will place copies of the reviews in the Library; [155831]
(4) what compulsion is on a G-Cat or S-Cat purchaser to put information on their contracts in the public domain; [155832]
(5) pursuant to his answer of 19 March 2001, Official Report, column 29W, on CCTA, what the total value of orders placed through G-Cat and S-Cat in each of the past five years was. [155829]
§ Mr. Andrew Smith[holding answer 27 March 2001]The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Office of Government Commerce, whom I have asked to reply.
Letter from Bob Assirati to Mr. Matthew Taylor, dated 26 April 2001:
I have been asked to reply to your further Parliamentary Questions regarding GCat and S-CAT, and CCTA's costs and revenues.You may wish to be aware that CCTA ceased to exist from the 31st of March 2001, but its functions have been absorbed within the Office of Government Commerce. Responsibility for GCat and S-Cat now rests with the OGC Trading Arm, OGC Buying.Solutions. The outcome of the review of OGC and its Agencies was announced in a Parliamentary Question to the Chief Secretary of the Treasury from Ms Jackie Lawrence MP on 19th December 2000. I am therefore writing to you as the outgoing Chief Executive of CCTA.The original assessments of compliance with the EC tender rules in respect of GCat and S-CAT were conducted by CCTA before the contracts were let. In 1997, the position of GCat and S-CAT was considered jointly by CCTA, HM Treasury and the Treasury Solicitor. It was felt that the original assessments remained valid and customers were advised accordingly. In March 2000 both catalogues were again confirmed as fully compliant with EC Directives.The details of the review processes referred to above are of a commercial/confidential nature and formed part of CCTA's normal day-to-day business operations.The total value of orders exceeding £200,000, in each of the past five years, for the catalogue services are as follows:
Total value of GCat and S-CAT orders over £200,000 £ million GCat S-CAT 1996 n/a 0 1997 n/a 0 1998 26.65 10.187 1999 46.54 8.657 2000 43.96 40.393 Notes:
1. The GCat and S-CAT schemes were established in April 1996 and October 1997 respectively.
2. Unfortunately, the figures for GCat prior to 1998 are not available through the current computer systems and can only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
430WThe total value of orders placed, in each of the past five years, through the catalogue services are shown below:
Total value of all GCat and S-CAT orders £ million GCat S-CAT 1996 7.32 0 1997 55.69 0.063 1998 129.99 21.52 1999 188.3 29.2 2000 215.55 67.23
At times of contract procurement and subsequent re-competition, it was CCTA's practice to issue as much information as possible to potential bidders about the actual or potential users of the schemes, the nature of the goods and services which may be procured through them and the total annual value of orders that are likely to be placed. Neither the existing procurement directives nor the EC's draft proposals on framework contracts specifically require individual users of such contracts to place information about their orders through the OJEC procedure (though some may do so voluntarily). However, CCTA expected individual users of GCat and S-CAT to comply with the obligations placed on them by open government policies/legislation (e.g. the Code of Practice on Access to Official Information and the Freedom of Information Act 2000) as appropriate.Details of the rationale for using framework contracts and catalogues for routine purchases are contained in the Comprehensive Spending Review of Efficiency in Civil Government Procurement Expenditure issued in April 1998, and the case for greater co-ordination and aggregation of Government spending is contained in the Gershon Review of Civil Procurement in Central Government issued in April 1999. I assume that copies of these reports are already available through the H of C Library.The total income and expenditure, in the last five financial years for CCTA, was as follows:
£000 CCTA total Income Expenditure 1996–97 20,835 28,676 1997–98 22,544 22,486 1998–99 25,200 23,454 1999–2000 28,353 27,646 Notes:
1. There are no figures available prior to CCTA becoming an agency in April 1996.
2. These figures are published in CCTA's Annual Report and Accounts for 1998–99 and 1999–2000 House of Commons references numbers 370(98/99) and 740(99/00).