Meat: Standards

(asked on 11th January 2021) - View Source

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 Portrait
Jo Churchill
Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
This question was answered on 26th January 2021

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.

Reticulating Splines