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Written Question
Meat: Standards
Tuesday 26th January 2021

Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has undertaken of the cost effectiveness of the procurement of privatised services by the Food Standards Authority to deliver veterinary official controls in meat establishments.

Answered by Jo Churchill

The contract to deliver veterinary services or official controls for approved meat establishments was most recently tendered in 2019 with a three year contract awarded in 2020. Assurances were given at contract award recommendation stage to a selected private service delivery partner as this option met the tender exercise strategic objectives of:

- Maintaining operational performance - the supplier provided the best technical submission so will provide the best operational performance;

- Delivering a financially sustainable contract - new contractual provisions support a more commercially robust contract, as a result of improved Food Standards Agency (FSA) understanding of costs and financial pressures in the market; and

- Delivering value for money to the FSA - the recommended supplier is the most cost effective to the FSA.

During contract retender an in-house comparator model was forecast to cost approximately £7.8 million more for the same delivery model which would have carried less flexibility and increased risk for the FSA, meaning it was not a feasible option at the time of contract retender.

Written Question
Meat: Standards
Monday 25th January 2021

Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish the value of the Food Standards Authority contract for veterinary controls of meat establishments in each of the last ten years.

Answered by Jo Churchill

The following table shows the value of each contract for veterinary official controls in meat plants since 2012. Contract periods were tendered with slightly differing geographic and technical requirements and therefore a difference in costs is realised.

Years

Contract Value

Notes

2020-2023

£83,700,000

Includes sustainable profit margin, inflationary increase in charge rates for each of the three years of the fixed contract term, includes other activities such as FBO audits, dairy inspections and unannounced inspections. Contracts only cover England and Wales.

2017-2020

£69,000,000

Including additional funding, audits were not included in this contract. Contract only covered England and Wales.

2012-2017

£73,932,444

Fixed hours contracts. Audits were part of this contract until 2015. Contracts covered Scotland, England and Wales.

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