HC Deb 20 January 1977 vol 924 cc285-7W
Mrs. Renée Short

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) how many of the tenders submitted by British contractors in respect of contracts advertised in the EEC for member countries other than the United Kingdom since British entry into the EEC and for the last year for which information is available were successful; and what is their total value;

(2) how many tenders were submitted by British contractors in respect of contracts advertised in the EEC for member countries other than the United Kingdom since British entry into the EEC and for the latest year for which information is available; and what was the total value of those tenders for the same periods.

Mr. Armstrong

I regret that the information is not available.

Mrs. Renée Short

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment how many tenders submitted by contractors based in EEC countries other than the United Kingdom in respect of contracts advertised for the United Kingdom have been successful since British entry to the EEC and for the last year for which information is available; and what was the total value of those tenders.

Mr. Armstrong

No works contract advertised in the Official Journal of the Communities by a public authority in the United Kingdom is known to have been placed with a contractor based in an EEC country other than the United Kingdom since British entry into the EEC.

Mrs. Renée Short

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) how many tenders from contractors based in EEC countries other than the United Kingdom have been received in the United Kingdom in respect of advertised contracts (a) since British entry into the EEC and (b) for the last complete year for which information is available;

(2) what is the total value of tenders submitted by contractors based in EEC countries other than the United Kingdom in respect of advertised contracts since British entry into the EEC and for the last complete year for which information is available.

Mr. Armstrong

The information available for the last six months of 1973 and for 1974 is incomplete, but our records show the following1973–74. Four advertised contracts of estimated values of £3 million, £7.2 million, £0.5 million and £12 million attracted one tender each from contractors based in EEC countries other than the United Kingdom. 1975 (The last complete year for which records are available). One advertised contract of an estimated value of £20.5 million attracted seven tenders from contractors based in EEC countries other than the United Kingdom.

No further information is available.

Mrs. Renée Short

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what proportion of each member country's total construction output since British entry into the EEC and for the latest complete year for which information is available; what the value of the advertised contracts for each country represents and what proportion of each country's public works contracts this represents.

Mr. Armstrong

Advertisers are not required to give the estimated value of the contracts and many do not do so. I regret, therefore, that this information is not available.

Mrs. Renée Short

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment how many public works contracts over 1 million units of account in value in accordance with EEC directives in EEC publications for each of the member countries (a) since British entry into the EEC, and (b) during the last complete year for which information is available; and what is the total value of such contracts under (a) and (b).

Mr. Armstrong

An analysis of the advertisements appearing in the Official Journal gives the following numbers of public works contracts published by each member State since July 1973:

Belgium 584
Denmark 127
France 972
Germany 1,652
Italy 10
Luxembourg 18
Netherlands 296
Ireland 99
United Kingdom 3,196

Values are not available.

The numbers for 1976 are:

Belgium 197
Denmark 27
France 262
Germany 394
Italy 4
Luxembourg 1
Netherlands 76
Ireland 34
United Kingdom 920

Values are not available.

Mrs. Renée Short

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) what is the average delay incurred in letting contracts in the United Kingdom owing to the EEC requirement to advertise contracts throughout the Community;

(2) what is the total annual cost incurred in the United Kingdom by public agencies in satisfying the EEC obligation to advertise.

Mr. Armstrong

There is no evidence that the advertising requirement of the public works directives has caused delay in the placing of public works contracts or that extra costs have thereby arisen. The total cost of advertising United Kingdom public contracts is not available but is likely to be small in relation to the expenses necessarily incurred in designing projects and placing contracts for their construction.