§ Mr. Michael Lathamasked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he will in future consult the Agrément Board on the drafting of departmental circulars on matters relating to thermal insulation, or any other subjects within the competence of the Board, in order to prevent a repetition of the incident last year when the Agrément Board publicly disagreed with the technical advice given in his circular on the U-value testing of slotted concrete blocks, which was subsequently discovered to contain errors.
§ Mr. FreesonThe views of the Agrément Board will be considered in appropriate cases. Consultation about U-values testing of slotted concrete blocks would not necessarily have prevented the subsequent disagreement or the unrelated typing errors in the circular.
§ Mr. Michael Lathamasked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he has now issued the corrigendum dealing with errors in his Department's advice to local authorities on the U-value testing of slotted concrete blocks; in what form this advice was issued; and what proposals he has for preventing further errors of this kind.
§ Mr. FreesonYes. The typing errors were corrected by a departmental circular issued on 30th November 1976. I do not consider any further action is warranted.