Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will provide details of the contrast in price and service between the mandatory Viking contract for stationery consumables for schools and existing community based purchasing groups such as that provided by a company (details supplied) in County Meath [16407/13]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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It is the National Procurement Service (NPS), in the Office of Public Works, which has developed centralised arrangements for the procurement of goods and services used commonly across the public service nationwide. Accordingly, the information requested by the Deputy is not available within my Department.

My Department understands that Codex Ltd, which holds the current stationery contract, are sourcing up to 60% of their products using 136 local agents and manufacturers. Within the Education sector, the mandatory arrangement relating to stationery currently applies to the Higher Education and VEC Sectors.

My colleague, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Brendan Howlin TD, has highlighted the importance of ensuring that the public sector is achieving maximum value for money an operational efficiency in its approach to public procurement. The benefits arising from these centralised procurement arrangements include: cash savings; administrative savings from reduced duplication of tendering; greater purchasing expertise; improved consistency and enhanced service levels.