HC Deb 21 April 1982 vol 22 cc265-6
14. Mr. Hooley

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what estimate he has made of the additional administrative costs to local authorities arising from the requirement that repair and maintenance work be put out to competitive tenders from private builders.

Mr. Stanley

Any increase in administrative costs should be marginal if the work is being fully specified and supervised already, and more than outweighed by the pricing benefits of replacing a DLO monopoly with proper competition.

Mr. Hooley

Is the Minister aware that the Sheffield direct works department carries out at least 12,000 housing repair jobs a month, in addition to maintaining large numbers of public buildings and schools? The proposition that that work should be put out to private tender would create chaos as well as enormous administrative waste.

Mr. Stanley

That is not the experience of a considerable number of Conservative authorities, which have been able to put out substantial amounts of that work below the £10,000 threshold without the effects to which the hon. Gentleman has referred. A Sheffield councillor, John Senior, is quoted as saying: We mean to obstruct the new law every inch of the way. He was referring to DLOs. Comments about DLOs in Sheffield are not the model of objectivity.

Dr. Mawhinney

Is my hon. Friend aware that, despite the minimal administrative costs, the ratepayers of Peterborough were saved almost £100,000 last week by the enactment of the law? Is he further aware that Conservative councillors in Peterborough have advocated that reduction for some time? Without them, the reduction would not have been approved by the council last week. Even then, some Labour concillors wanted to vote to flout the law.

Mr. Stanley

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his remarks and also for the important personal contribution that he has made to the privatisation of much of that sort of work in Peterborough, which has been successful. Further, Peterborough new town puts out all its emergency repair and maintenance work to the private sector, which shows that it is possible to use the private sector on a substantial scale.