§ Mr. CashTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what action he proposes to take in regard to Redditch borough 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 Redditch borough council to expose refuse collection work to competitive tendering again by 1 February 1992. He has taken this action because he was not satisfied with the response which Redditch borough council made to the notice served on 18 January 1991 under section 13 of the Act.
That notice set out the Secretary of State's view that Redditch borough 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, in assigning this work to its direct service organisation, it rejected a lower tender from a private contractor without sufficient reasons.