asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what progress is being made in putting the laundry and catering services in National Health Service hospitals out to competitive tender.

Some health authorities are already pursuing this course of action. I would like more of them to test the market by seeking tenders from outside contractors and the in-house organisation on the basis of fair comparison.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether any estimate has been made of the savings that will result if National Health Service laundry and catering services are put out to private contractors.

Local circumstances would determine this and no estimates of potential savings from these two services are available centrally, but I believe that considerable savings should generally be possible.