§ 70. Mr. Boyd-Carpenterasked the Minister of Housing and Local Government if he is aware that certain local authorities include in their conditions of contract, when putting out tenders in respect of housebuilding, a condition that the contractors shall not employ on the site of the works to be executed any manual worker who is not a member of a trade union affiliated to or eligible for affiliation to the Trades Union Congress; and whether he will take steps to ascertain the additional expenditure resulting from this restriction in the field of tendering, and inform the House.
§ Mr. CrossmanI am aware of at least one case where a local authority has for some years sought compliance by tenderers with such a condition. But I have no evidence that the authority have experienced any difficulty in obtaining tenders, and an examination of the tender prices approved since October, 1964, for houses in this area has shown no excess over the general level of prices obtained by neighbouring authorities.