§ Mr. Gordon PrenticeTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will list the contracts entered into with private sector companies for the provision of goods or services since May 1997 where penalty clauses were triggered for non-performance; and if he will make a statement. [122015]
§ Dr. HowellsWhere appropriate, DTI contracts include liquidated damages clauses. Penalty clauses are not legally enforceable. The DTI has a great number of contracts in operation at any one time, the details of which are not held centrally. It would entail disproportionate cost to find out which of these contracts included liquidated damages clauses and which of those clauses had been invoked.