To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how much the market-testing programme has cost his Department since November 1992.

Since November 1992, the cost of my Department's market-testing programme has amounted to approximately £729,000 and the Department has already achieved efficiency savings in the relevant activities worth about £1 million annually. This is in advance both of the results of the majority of tenders and of calculating the gains expected from Property Holdings' programme of putting out professional services to competitive tender which is due for completion at the end of this year.