§ Mr. Heddleasked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he will estimate the total amount of highways work carried out by county councils in England and Wales during the first year of operation of the direct labour legislation as contained in the Local Government Act 1980; and what information he has as to the proportion of this work for which the contracts were won after competition.
§ Sir George YoungOn the basis of the information contained in county councils' annual DLO reports for 1981–82, it is estimated that these authorities DLOs undertook highway works to a total value of £442 million. The approximate proportion of this work undertaken after competition is estimated at 2.5 per cent.