§ Mr. Allan StewartTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what action he proposes to take in regard to Woodspring district council under part I of the Local Government Act 1988.
§ Mr. KeyMy right hon. Friend has today issued a direction under section 14 of the Local Government Act 1988 requiring Woodspring district council to expose certain ground maintenance work to competitive tendering again by 1 November 1991. He has taken this action because he was not satisfied with the response which Woodspring district council made to the notice served on 6 September 1990 under section 13 of the Act.
That notice set out the Secretary of State's view that Woodspring district council had acted contrary to the requirement of section 7(7) of the Act (which is that, in awarding a contract, an authority must not act in a manner having the effect or intended or likely to have the effect of restricting, distorting or preventing competition) in that it had failed to include in the draft specification and other draft documents for the ground maintenance contract to be let from 1 January 1990 the detailed information which was necessary for potential tenderers to prepare their tenders.