Hodge: cut back on trade bodies

Construction minister Margaret Hodge has told the construction industry that it needs to integrate some of its many organisations if it is to be able to think in an integrated way.

Speaking to the National Specialist Contractors' Council, she said that she had "never met so many presidents" before she started her current role - a direct reference to the large number of bodies that represent the construction industry.

"Construction matters to government - it accounts for 8% of the economy and employs about two million people, but it is very fragmented, with more than 250,000 separate businesses.

"The government is sorting itself out as a client, but I think the construction industry should work towards some marrying of professional associations so it can think in an increasingly integrated way."

[Contract Journal, 06  December 2006, p 1]