The confederates look likely to lose again!

The last two days have brought out into the public domain a story on the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) pursuing alleged price fixing cartels operating in the construction industry that has been about for some time.

When APSE first tried to give some exposure to this story about 12 months ago we received a series of veiled threats from a number of parties with vested interests. Therefore it was no real surprise to me that when we issued our press release on the story, where we called for local authorities who find in the course of the OFT's investigation that they have lost out, to recover any loss by all means available, that once again these cheerleaders for big companies decided to try to rubbish us and divert the press from the really story of alleged fraud on a colossal scale. If the OFT allegations are proven then this appears as nothing short of a smash and grab raid on the public purse.

APSE is quite happy to be portrayed as a vigorous defender of the public purse and the Daily Mail, MJ, New Start magazine and many others ran sympathetic stories on our position. Its a pity Construction News decided to accept the spin of darker forces and protect their readerships interest rather than the publics. These same dark forces who are quoted as unnamed sources and industry insiders have the audacity to suggest public sector clients are at fault because they in some way left the opportunity open and it was to irresistible to refuse sticking their hand in the till and helping themselves. If it has taken the OFT four years to get to this stage of the investigation with all its resources how are a group of public sector surveyors supposed to police people who are allegedly meeting in secret many miles away and carving up dubious deals between them.

I suppose it will all come out in the wash of the ongoing investigation, I am happy to take flak for trying to protect the public purse in my view its got to be better than not only sounding like the Lord Haw Haw of the Construction Industry but having the morals to match.

The great reorganisation debate!

Speak at our Northern Region lunch near Blackpool today on the topic of local government reorganisation along with Dennis Cooper and Mark Hammerton from Eversheds. We have an audience of over 30 and it ends up in a really good debate.

A number of those present have travelled from the North East where Durham County and its seven districts are due to be merged into one new unitary authority. You can almost feel the tension crackling in the air as I carefully pick my way through my own reorganisation experiences from the nineties in Scotland. When I mention some of my concerns about recruitment, culture change, harmonisation of terms and conditions, and how a 'them and us' can develop you could sense that many had concerns of their own as to how the situation now will play out in practice.

I also touched on communication, developing common systems and processes, called for a moratorium on inspection and one of my personal bugbears the lack of an independent staff commission to oversee the process and rule on disputes. I think this is a major blunder and predict that DCLG will come to regret this.

Dennis and myself have different views on the relevance of this but my view is just because the one in England in the nineties was a bit limp it doesn't mean you can't draft its powers differently and make it successful like the one in Scotland was. I guess it comes down to whether you believe that disputes should be settled through a legal process in the first instance or as a last resort!