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<p>National Health Service trusts may negotiate locally with commercial organisations
to distribute advice, information and ‘try before you buy’ samples that they think
would be useful for pregnant women.</p><p> </p><p>Neither the Department nor NHS England
centrally have any contracts with Bounty or influence over the contents of the packs
nor does the Department benefit financially from such arrangements. We do not have
any information about what contracts might exist between Bounty and individual NHS
trusts.</p><p> </p><p>Although we are aware of Bounty distributing their packs on
maternity wards, we have no evidence of whether or not this is welcomed by parents.</p><p>
</p><p>Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) use the services of Bounty to help
distribute Child Benefit claim packs to new mothers in NHS hospitals. The contract
for this service is held by HMRC’s Print Vendor Provider, Williams Lea. Using the
Bounty pack as one channel for distributing Child Benefit forms has proved efficient
and cost effective. The Child Benefit form can also be obtained through other channels,
notably the HMRC website.</p><p> </p><p>In 2012-13, HMRC paid £85,990.27 (excluding
VAT) for Bounty to distribute a total of 857,939 English and Welsh language claim
forms.</p><p> </p><p> </p>
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