HC Deb 15 October 2002 vol 390 cc756-7W
Ms Shipley

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what part designers and contractors play in the Home Office Action Plan for Better Public Buildings. [74354]

Beverley Hughes

The Home Office Action Plan responds to the initiatives of Her Majesty's Treasury's "Achieving Excellence" and the Department of Transport, Local Government and the Regions (DTLR) "Rethinking Construction", along with the procurement strategies advocated by the Office of Government Commerce.

The Plan provides for a more structured approach to promoting good design as early as possible in the procurement process, whether it is through the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) or publicly funded. The outcome of this should be that designers are more carefully selected for their technical skills and capabilities, and contractors are engaged earlier to make a greater contribution to design and specification, and enabling greater value for money to be achieved.