§ Mr. Michael Lathamasked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether his Department consulted the Agrement Board before publishing his recent circular on the U-value testing of slotted concrete blocks; whether the Agrement Board indicated in that consultation that it disagreed with some of the technical advice given; and what action was taken to resolve the conflict of view in advance of the publication of the circular.
§ Mr. ArmstrongIt is not customary to consult the Agrement Board before issuing advice of this sort but the Department's circular letter was issued after reference to the Building Regulations Advisory Committee.
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§ Mr. Michael Lathamasked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he has now received from the Agrement Board details of its published criticisms on technical grounds of the Department of the Environment circular advising local authorities on the U-value testing of slotted concrete blocks; whether, in the light of those criticisms, he proposes to amend his circular; and whether he will make a statement.
§ Mr. ArmstrongYes. We have told the Board that we consider its preferred method of calculation could exclude products that in fact conform with the requirements of the building regulations. There is no accepted precise method of calculation and we do not propose to alter the basis of our advice, although we shall be issuing a corrigendum dealing with minor errors.