§ 55. Mr. Hiltonasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what representations he has had from organisations within the building industry about the possibility of legislation for sub-contractors; and what action he proposes as a result of such representations.
§ Mr. AmeryMost representative organisations in the industry, but not the N.F.B.T.E., have suggested that the problems posed by the practice of labour-only sub-contracting in the building 355W industry should be tackled by some form of legislation.
In the Government's judgment this issue has been seriously aggravated by S.E.T.
We also consider that the system of registration proposed by the last Administration would have imposed an additional financial and administrative burden on the industry and would have penalised genuinely self-employed craftsmen.
The Government has announced its decision to abolish S.E.T. My right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer is considering how best to deal with difficulties arising from evasion of other taxes.
We believe that the industry should be able to deal itself with the problem of self-employment.
In all the circumstances we do not propose to introduce legislation at this time. But we shall keep the situation under review.