HC Deb 31 January 1966 vol 723 cc666-7
21. Mr. Dempsey

asked the Minister of Public Building and Works why he placed the £154,000 contract for the new Post Office Savings Bank at Glasgow with Terrapin Limited, Bletchley, Buckinghamshire, without giving Scottish firms the right to tender.

Mr. Boyden

One of the three firms invited to tender for this specialist work was Scottish.

Mr. Dempsey

Is my hon. Friend aware that the most reputable firms in Lanarkshire and Glasgow did not have this opportunity, and, as they could have provided jobs for all classes of people from designers to labourers, will he ensure that in future such suitable building firms are given an opportunity to tender for this type of public work?

Mr. Boyden

I can assure my hon. Friend that Scottish contractors are invariably included in the selected list of tenderers for projects in Scotland, and I can reassure him that the particular contract to which he refers will have no effect whatsoever on the placing of the very much larger main contract for the permanent Post Office building.