Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment his Department made at the time the Government Property Agency (GPA) was established of the effectiveness of the dispute resolution process relating to industrial disputes between the GPA, Government Departments and outsourced facilities management contractors.
The GPA has Client Managers in place for the Departments they support. Any disagreements would typically be resolved through the Client Manager’s regular framework of Client engagement meetings which includes a formal quarterly performance review.
As far as we know there was no assessment of the effectiveness of the dispute resolution processes at the time of the establishment of the Government Property Agency (GPA). Facilities management contracts were let by other Government Departments using Crown Commercial Services (CCS) framework agreements and then novated to the GPA. These contracts were created using standard CCS contract forms and terms and conditions, including dispute resolution procedures, that were consistent with commercial good practice at that time.