§ Mr. HancockTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how he will ensure(a) that privatised filestores in the South East Region remain open and (b) that the files remain secure. [151528]
§ Mr. BrowneThe Department expects to announce soon the outcome of the competition to manage the Departments storage and retrieval services.
Future delivery will involve operating from a single site. Modern recording and transmission systems will ensure that documents are available to local offices in South East Region and elsewhere, within 24 hours where necessary as now, to meet operational requirements.
The contract for record storage and retrieval will place, as it does now, specific requirements on suppliers regarding security of records. All bidding organisations have experience of operating security procedures and have offered assurances as to how this important aspect of the service will be managed.