HC Deb 12 February 2002 vol 380 cc295-6W
Mr. Wray

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if there is a professional organisation that has a list of building firms that are reputable. [34688]

Mr. Wilson

The DTI has developed the Quality Mark scheme to enable householders to quickly and easily identify reputable and competent construction firms. The scheme ensures that Quality Mark tradesmen are technically competent, possess relevant qualifications and display financial probity and registers them for the public to use.

The Quality Mark scheme includes various customer care measures, such as a code of practice and an effective complaints system. There is also a scheme warranty that provides protection against defects in workmanship for six years after completion of works.

Pilots are operating in Birmingham and Somerset and the scheme has been extended to contractors in Leicestershire and east Kent. So far 138 builders have been awarded the Quality Mark and over 200 are in the assessment pipeline. The scheme is currently undergoing evaluation, and a report will be made to Ministers shortly.

DTI's national register, Constructionline, is operated under a public-private partnership by Capita Business Services Ltd. It was set up to reduce the cost to both firms and clients of repeated information handling at the initial stage of tendering for work. Public and commercial sector clients who use Constructionline gain access, free, to a single, nationwide list of approved construction firms.

Constructionline assesses firms against commercially accepted standards to show that they have the capacity and capability to carry out the types and size of work for which they wish to tender. Firms pay a fee, close to cost, for registration and annual review on a sliding scale based on turnover. There are more than 10,000 firms registered with Constructionline and 13,330 licensed clients. Client access to the data, whether to individual firms' records or to source a project list of approved firms, rose by 73 per cent. in the year to January 2002.