§ Mr. Nicholas Wintertonasked the Minister of Transport how many contractors are currently awaiting payment by his Department's road construction unit at Dorking.
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeThe information immediately available to me relates only to construction contracts valued at over £250,000. On regular monthly statements in respect of work in progress, payments in accordance with the contract are made within 28 days of delivery of the statements; as at 16 December, payments for 15 contractors were being processed and will be effected by the due date. These were the only payments then legally due. Claims for additional payments have been notifed by 15 contractors, but for many such claims no particulars have yet been supplied, and for many others advance payments have been made. Many of these claims for additional payments may be disputed and final payments can be made only when the engineers under the contracts are satisfied that the claims or part of them have been substantiated. Two final accounts from two contractors were being examined prior to final certification.
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§ Mr. Nicholas Wintertonasked the Minister of Transport how many staff are currently employed at his Department's road construction unit in Dorking.
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeThe number of staff in post at the south-eastern road construction unit headquarters at Dorking is 126, made up of 21 civil servants and 105 local government officers on secondment to the Department.