Written question asked by Louise Ellman (Labour) on Friday, 10 February 2006, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 14 February 2006. It was answered by Baroness Hodge of Barking (Labour) on Wednesday, 8 March 2006 on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions.

Jobcentre Plus

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what consultation Jobcentre Plus conducted in relation to changes in tendering processes for prime contractors for the new deal in the North West.

Answer: We are introducing new contracting procedures to reduce the bureaucratic costs to Jobcentre Plus and improve performance. Changes to the new deal contract tendering process have been carried out across all Jobcentre Plus regions including the North West region.Prior notice of the tendering competitions, including our revised Contracting Strategy, was placed on the Provider pages of the Jobcentre Plus website at www.jobcentreplus.gov.uk and promoted through newspaper advertisements. We place an advertisement twice a year in ‘The Voice', the Metro and the Guardian, to inform providers of the range of tendering opportunities available on the website, and have also placed an advertisement in the February edition of the Voluntary Services Directory.We are assisting bidders and potential sub-contractors through supplier briefings at stage two of the contracting process at meetings held in Newcastle, Birmingham and London. We also ensure that the Provider question and answer section on our website is regularly updated.Throughout the contracting process we have kept the Association of Learning Providers (ALP) and the Employment Related Services Association (ERSA) fully informed of all developments and changes to the new deal contracting process. The ALP and ERSA are working with this Department, the Treasury and the National Audit Office as part of a Provider Task Force to improve the quality and performance of our employment programmes.

Secondary information