Concrete Roofing Tiles (Hansard, 18 May 1984)

§ Mr. Fletcher

In her statement of 19 November 1981 my right hon. Friend the then Minister for Consumer Affairs set out the Commission's findings and recommendations and said that the Government were arranging for discussions to be opened with the parties concerned about giving effect to the Commission's recommendations.

Before setting out the steps taken to give effect to the commission's recommendations, I need to make clear one matter in relation to the finding against Redland Ltd, which has drawn attention to the procedure followed by the commission when finding that a monopoly situation 287W existed in favour of the company. It is the commission's practice, before making a finding, to send to the person in respect of whom the finding may be made, a letter, setting out the relevant matters which may concern the public interest, and giving the person concerned an opportunity to make representations. In this case, this letter was sent to Redland Roof Tiles Ltd (the subsidiary of Redland Ltd which through itself and its subsidiaries carried on the reference business). Redland Ltd, a non-trading company, did not itself receive such a letter, and points out that, as a result, it was not afforded an opportunity to make representations to the commission in accordance with the commission's normal procedure. Had Redland Ltd received such a letter, representations might have been made in respect of the commission's intention to make a finding against that company, and the company was of the opinion that the report should not have contained any finding in relation to it. It was explained to the company that it was not open to the commission to change a report once it had been submitted to the Secretary of State, and that it was not open to the Secretary of State to amend such a report in any way. But subsequent discussions on giving effect to the commission's recommendations have been held with Redland Roof Tiles Ltd. Redland Ltd has suggested that the point to which it has drawn attention should be put on record and that the record should be made available to future purchasers of the commission's report. I am glad to accede to this suggestion; and I am arranging for HMSO to insert a slip containing an appropriate extract from this statement in copies of the report for future sale.

Following discussions with the Office of Fair Trading and the Department, Redland and Marley have given undertakings to implement the commission's recommendations. The commission's findings only related to Great Britain, but the commission expressed the hope that such of its recommendations as were adopted would also be applied to Northern Ireland, and in response to this the undertakings given by Redland relates to Northern Ireland as well as Great Britain and undertakings have also been given by Scott (Toomerbridge) Ltd of Northern Ireland.

All three companies have agreed to provide the Director General of Fair Trading with details of projects for which the 10 highest levels of discount had been offered in particular regions, and with other financial information to allow him to monitor the industry, as well as to give him advance notice of any proposals to acquire another concrete roofing tile company. In addition Redland has undertaken to continue to make its roof tile fittings freely available to builders merchants. The commission also made recommendations regarding local authorities' specifications and buying procedures. The Department of Environment has brought these recommendations to the attention of the following bodies: The Association of County Councils, the Association of Metropolitan Authorities, the Association of District Councils, the London Boroughs Association, the Greater London Council, the New Towns Association, the National Federation of Housing Associations, the Housing Corporation and the Local Authorities Management Services Committee. It has also written to the Scottish Office, the Welsh Office, the Department of Environment for Northern Ireland, the Ministry of Defence, the Department of Health and Social Security and the Home Office so that they, too, can bring the commission's 288W recommendations to the attention of the local authority associations and public bodies with whom they are concerned.

I welcome the undertakings given by Redland, Marley and Scott (Toomebridge) and the action taken by the Department of the Environment. I consider them sufficient to remedy the adverse affects specified in the commission's report.

I have arranged for copies of the full text of the undertakings to be placed in the Library of the House.