SEC Group calls on better co-ordination in retentions battle

Pan-industry co-ordination and increased pressures on ministers will be the focus of the Specialist Engineering Contractors (SEC) Group's latest campaign against retentions.

The new emphasis, which follows the retentions report by the House of Commons select committee on trade and industry published before Christmas, will see all industry organisations, such as the Construction Confederation and the Federation of Master Builders, singing from the same song sheet.

"We had a great 2002 in the retentions battle," said SEC Group chief executive Rudi Klein. "However, we have realised that although we received great support from across industry we tended to focus on the specialist side. This will now change to create a more powerful single voice."

Partisan groups will now be asked by SEC Group to co-ordinate a lobbying siege on the Department of Trade & Industry (DTI), which is formulating its response to the report for next month.

Klein added that the new alliance will also be holding meetings with the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) and the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) in a bid to abolish retentions across all PFI contracts.

"Although the DTI has been supportive of the report, the OGC and the ODPM might not be ready to formulate a position in the meetings we have planned for this month," he said.

Meanwhile, SEC Group will be chasing up the long list of ministers who gave their signatures for the retentions Early Day Motion to ensure they continue the fight.

One new minister who will add weight to the cause is shadow construction minister Henry Bellingham.