Press Release - The procurement of goods and services
by HM Prison Service
23 July 2008
The Prison Service has made significant progress in the way it
manages its buying of goods and services such as food, clothing and
utilities, the National Audit Office has today reported.
In 2003 the National Audit Office found that the Prison Service’s
procurement function was “fragmented and costly to deliver”. Since
this report, the Prison Service has implemented a new procurement
strategy, led by a new centralised professional procurement team
backed up by regional purchasing units which negotiate central
contracts for a range of goods and services.
At the same time the Prison Service has introduced a shared service
centre to provide administrative functions, including purchasing,
for prisons. The implementation of these two reforms has enabled
the Prison Service to make significant savings in both purchasing
and administrative costs.
As a result of the changes, prisons now receive more consistent
supplies of goods and services often at much lower prices than
before. The progress the Prison Service has been recognised by the
Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply with two awards for
excellence in 2006 and 2007.
The Prison Service is still capable of making further savings. In
the near term it should concentrate its efforts on bringing more
expenditure under the remit of its nationally negotiated contracts,
and help to improve compliance by prisons with the new arrangements
by further communicating the benefits of its national procurement
approach.
Tim Burr, head of the National Audit Office, said
today:
“The Prison Service has made real progress in how it buys goods and
services for prisons throughout the UK. The Service spends around
£450 million a year and is securing a good deal for the taxpayer in
using that money. It could do still better by extending the new
approach to the whole of the organisation.”
Notes for Editors:
- Press notices and reports are available from the date of
publication on the NAO website, which is at www.nao.org.uk. Hard
copies can be obtained from The Stationery Office on 0845 702
3474.
- The Comptroller and Auditor General, Tim Burr, is the head of
the National Audit Office which employs some 850 staff. He and the
NAO are totally independent of Government. He certifies the
accounts of all Government departments and a wide range of other
public sector bodies; and he has statutory authority to report to
Parliament on the economy, efficiency and effectiveness with which
departments and other bodies have used their resources.
Press Notice 37/08
All enquiries to Mark Anderson, NAO Press Office: Tel: 020 7798
7558
Mobile: 07796 937 119