Griffiths goes off message on retentions

New construction minister Nigel Griffiths has pledged his support for the abolition of retentions - much to the embarrassment of his officials.

Speaking off the cuff at the launch of the Building Services Research and Information Association's (BSRIA) Partnering Toolkit this week, Griffiths said he "didn't see any reason for the use of retentions".

Citing one example from the document, Boots' abolition of retentions on contracts with its M&E contractors, Griffiths said such a stance should be mirrored throughout the industry.

"There is no excuse why everyone can't adopt a non-retention policy on all contracts," he added.

However one Department of Trade & Industry official was quick to "correct" the minister's detour from the government line. "There is a lot more to the retentions issue than just a simple phasing out of their use. The minister is still receiving updated briefs from his officials," he said. 

Griffiths' views are in stark contrast to the DTI's response to the trade and industry select committee's report into retentions earlier this year. In its comments to the committee, DTI said the phasing out of retentions was the responsibility of contractors by improving their working practices.

The department also dismissed the Specialist Engineering Contractors' (SEC) Group's 2007 target for the government to phase out retentions use altogether.

Rudi Klein, chief executive of SEC Group, welcomed the minister's views. "I am impressed with the minister's views and the fact that he read through the BSRIA document. I look forward to future talks with him about phasing out retentions."

The 64-page BSRIA toolkit provides guidance on areas such as when to partner, contractual processes, setting up benchmarks and contains helpful models on how to make partnering work.