Mr. Vaneasked the Minister of Works what is the policy of his Department towards providing building repair staff for the maintenance of temporary housing estates owned or managed by other Departments; and whether the management staff on such estates are free to ask for competitive tenders from contractors or are bound in all cases to employ his repair staff without any estimates of the cost being given.
§ Mr. StokesThe policy of my Department, when invited by another Department to maintain its housing estates, whether temporary or otherwise, is to employ either Ministry of Works depot labour, a maintenance contractor appointed in competition, or to invite competitive tenders, according to the type of work involved and the location of the estate. It is not the practice to delegate to an estate manager authority either to negotiate contracts for maintenance, or to employ labour to do maintenance work.