§ Mr. Chapmanasked the Secretary of State for Transport what progress he has made with the transfer of work from the road construction sub-units to the private sector; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeOn 13 August my right hon. Friend the Member for Sutton Coldfield (Mr. Fowler) announced the final firm of consulting engineers whom he had selected to take on work and staff from a road construction sub-unit. That completed the selection of firms to carry out work which was formerly done by the 16 sub-units on the design and supervision of construction of new motorways and trunk roads.
Work is now being transferred to the private sector on road schemes whose total cost is estimated at over £2,000 million. The list of firms and the work they are taking on is as follows:
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Sub-Unit schemes from: Sir William Halcrow & Partners Buckinghamshire Brian Colquhoun & Partners Hertfordshire and West Bedfordshire Maunsell & Partners Essex and East Bedfordshire Mott Hay & Anderson Hampshire and Kent W. S. Atkins & Partners Surrey Bullen & Partners Durham Pell Frischmann & Partners West Yorkshire (Kirkhamgate-Dishforth)
Babtie Shaw & Morton West Yorkshire (Airedale) & Lancashire John Burrow & Partners West Yorkshire (Lincoln Relief Road) Mander Raikes & Marshall Devon and Somerset Ove Arup & Partners Warwickshire (M40, M42, A46) C. H. Dobbie & Partners Warwickshire (A435) Scott Wilson Kirkpatrick & Partners Derbyshire Sir Owen Williams & Partners Staffordshire Ward Ashcroft & Parkman Cheshire. The transfer of work and staff from the sub-units to the consultants is now in progress. The work of 10 sub-units has already been transferred, and the whole process should be completed by the end of the year.
The clearing house, which was set up to look after the interests of the staff, was closed at the end of October. It arranged for offers of employment with consultants to be made to almost all the staff who were working on the schemes that are being transferred.