§ Mr. Michael Brownasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement about the quality of prefabricated units supplied by contractors to the Property Services Agency in Northern Ireland, in the light of allegations made in the Northern Ireland Assembly on 31 October.
§ Mr. GowI have seen the statement made by Mr. Beattie in the Northern Ireland Assembly and I have had the circumstances investigated fully. Mr. Beattie alleged that certain portable accommodation units supplied by contractors to the agency were substandard, that because these contractors were hoping to get away with substandard work they won tenders unfairly, and that there must have been collusion with PSA officials to allow them to hope to get away with substandard work. The facts are that some of the units supplied by the contractors were substandard and are now being replaced. There is no evidence that they won tenders unfairly, or that there was any collusion with PSA staff.