Big trio turn their attention onto to the next government

The construction industry's big three umbrella bodies have petitioned the Conservative and Labour parties in a pre-Election bid to win assurances on four key issues.

Assurances are wanted on the Private Finance Initiative, public expenditure, training and future legislation. The joint petition was put forward by the Construction Industry Employers Council (CIEC), The Alliance of Construction Product Suppliers (ACPS) and the Construction Industry Council (CIC).

The assurances on PFI concern the need for standard forms of contract and tendering procedures, and affordability in the health and education sectors. A growing issue is limited skills transfer between PFI projects and the three want Government help to improve matters.

They want assurances from the parties that public expenditure on infrastructure will not bear the brunt of cutbacks as more attention is put on PFI.