Written question asked by Caroline Spelman (Conservative) on Friday, 9 October 2009, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 13 October 2009. It was answered by Shahid Malik (Labour) on Monday, 26 October 2009 on behalf of the Department for Communities and Local Government.

FiReBuy

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the timetable is for the abolition of Firebuy Ltd. and the creation of a successor body.

Answer: In my written statement of 25 June 2009, Official Report, column 65WS, I said that our review of national procurement in the Fire and Rescue Service in England had concluded that a national procurement body represented the best way to deliver fire-specific collaborative procurement. For the future, we proposed that this role should be carried out within a larger organisation, also responsible for the management of the service contracts for the Fire and Resilience Programme. These proposals were set out in a consultation paper issued in July, the deadline for responses to which was 5 October 2009. The responses are now being considered and a further announcement will be made in due course.

Secondary information