§ Mr. Doverasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will introduce legislation to prevent local authorities from inserting irrelevant provisions in tender invitations or contracts.
§ Mr. Ridley[pursuant to the reply, 20 March 1986, c. 253]: Councils are increasingly imposing non-commercial conditions in contracts and we have concluded that the law now needs to be strengthened to stop this sort of abuse. We shall, therefore, bring forward legislation as soon as we can.
The legislation will also stop authorities imposing conditions which are designed to make it harder for contractors to compete with direct labour organisations. It would not stop reasonable actions, under legislation such as the Race Relations Act. A special provision will be made to allow the promotion of employment prospects of local labour in the inner cities.