SEC to attack retentions

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

This follows the retentions report published before Christmas by the House of Commons select committee on trade and industry.

The new emphasis will see all industry organisations, such as the Construction Confederation and the Federation of Master Builders, co-ordinating their lobbying efforts.

"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 the industry we tended to focus on the specialist side. This will now change to create a more powerful single voice."

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

Klein added that the SEC Group will also hold meetings with the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) and the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) in a bid to abolish retentions in 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.