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Covering Letter

Scottish Procurement Directorate
SPD - Construction Advice and Policy Division

29 August 2007

Dear Consultee,

Consultation on proposals to amend Part II of the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 and the Scheme for Construction Contracts (Scotland)
Regulations 1998 and Partial Regulatory Impact Assessment.

We are inviting written responses to the above consultation paper by 24 October 2007

Background

Since coming into force on 1 May 1998, a number of difficulties have come to light and concerns have been raised about the effectiveness of the Construction Act. On 20 June 2007 the Department Trade and Industry ( DTI), (now Department of Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform or BERR) and the Welsh Assembly Government issued a Consultation Document jointly for England and Wales which considers amendments to Part II of the Housing Grants Construction and Regeneration Act 1996, which would be taken through the UK Parliament by the UK Government and would affect both England and Wales.

The consultation issued on 20 June by DTI and the Welsh Assembly also covers amendments to the Scheme for Construction Contracts (England and Wales) Regulations 1998. In so far as they affect England these would be taken through the UK Parliament by the UK Government immediately after the primary legislative amendments have been passed. In so far as they affect Wales, the amendments to the Scheme will need to be taken through the Welsh Assembly separately by the Welsh Assembly Government.

The Construction Act also applies in Scotland and policy responsibility for the Act in Scotland and the Scheme for Construction Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 1998 is a matter for the Scottish Executive. Any amendments affecting Scotland would be a matter for the Scottish Parliament to agree.

This consultation exercise within Scotland relating to Part II of the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 and The Scheme for Construction Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 1998 is being conducted separately from England and Wales. However in an effort to maintain parity of legislation across United Kingdom for the construction industry it does replicate the proposals in the consultation issued on 20 June by DTI and the Welsh Assembly and therefore this consultation has been limited to 8 weeks from the standard 12 weeks consultation period.

Responding to this Consultation paper

A respondent information form is at Annex C with a consultation response form at Annex D of the consultation paper. The consultation response form contains questions on each section of the consultation paper; please clearly indicate in your response which questions or parts of the consultation paper you are responding to as this will aid our analysis of the responses received. Where a particular issue or proposal is of specific interest or concern to you, please feel free to make as many additional comments or suggestions as you feel appropriate.

The questions on regulatory impact are important as they will help us to carry out the Impact Assessment that will be needed if we go forward with legislation. Detailed and reliable information has been very hard to come by and while we appreciate that this may be difficult, we should be very grateful if you would answer as many of these questions as you are able to. Your responses will enable us to assess whether the proposals deliver better payment practices than the legislation as it currently stands.

The consultation response form also covers the amendments that will need to be made to the Scheme for Construction Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 1998. Generally we intend only to make minimal consequential amendments to the Scheme. However where we believe we have exercised some discretion in policy terms as to how to amend the Scheme, we have included questions on the proposals in the response form.

Handling your response

We need to know how you wish your response to be handled and, in particular, whether you are happy for your response to be made public. Please complete and return the Respondent Information Form enclosed at Annex C of the Consultation paper as this will ensure that we treat your response appropriately. If you ask for your response not to be published we will regard it as confidential, and we will treat it accordingly. All respondents should be aware that the Scottish Executive are subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and would therefore have to consider any request made to it under the Act for information relating to responses made to this consultation exercise.

Next steps in the process

Where respondents have given permission for their response to be made public ( see the Respondent Information Form at Annex C), these will be made available to the public in the Scottish Executive Library by 21 November 2007 and if applicable, on the Scottish Executive consultation web pages by 28 November 2007. We will check all responses where agreement to publish has been given for any potentially defamatory material before logging them in the library or placing them on the website. You can make arrangements to view responses by contacting the SE Library on 0131 244 4552. Responses can be copied and sent to you, but a charge may be made for this service.

What happens next ?

Following the closing date, all responses will be analysed and considered along with any other available evidence to help us reach a decision on the introduction of the proposed amendments to Part II of the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 and the Scheme for Construction Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 1998. We aim to issue a report on this consultation process by late December 2007 if possible, with a view to pursuing legislative changes in 2008.

Response address

An electronic version of the consultation response form which can be completed online can be found at the consultation pages of the Scottish Executive website. http://www.scotland.gov.uk/consultations/current

A response can be submitted by email using the form on the Scottish Executive website or by letter to:

Email: constructionconsultation@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

We will not be able to accept responses after the consultation deadline.

Additional copies

This consultation, and all other Scottish Executive consultation exercises, can be viewed online on the consultation web pages of the Scottish Executive website at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/consultations . You can telephone Freephone 0800 77 1234 to find out where your nearest public internet access point is.

The Scottish Executive now has an email alert system for consultations (SEconsult: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/consultations/seconsult.aspx). This system allows stakeholder individuals and organisations to register and receive a weekly email containing details of all new consultations (including web links). SEconsult complements, but in no way replaces SE distribution lists, and is designed to allow stakeholders to keep up to date with all SE consultation activity, and therefore be alerted at the earliest opportunity to those of most interest. We would encourage you to register.

You may make copies of this document without seeking permission.

Further printed copies of the consultation document can be obtained from:

Tel. 0131 622 8258
Fax. 0131 557 8149
Email. business. Edinburgh@blackwell.co.uk

The Scottish Executive will be able to arrange for this consultation to be made available in other languages or in Braille if required.

Help with queries

Questions about the policy issues raised in the consultation document should be addressed to:

Audrey Macdonald

Tel: 0131 244 2072
Fax: 0131 244 7473
Email: Audrey.Macdonald@Scotland.gsi.gov.uk

Questions about the involvement of the Department for Business Enterprise & Regulatory Reform in the consultation process and future implementation should be addressed to:

Michael McDermott

Tel 020 7215 3722
Fax: 020 7215 0846
Minicom: 020 7215 6740
Email: Michael.McDermott@berr.gsi.gov.uk

Questions about the involvement of the Welsh Assembly Government in the consultation process and future implementation should be addressed to:

Philip Gardiner

Tel: 01685 729 229
Fax: 01685 729 547
Email: philip.gardiner@wales.gsi.gov.uk

Comments and complaints

If you have any comments about how this consultation exercise has been conducted, please send them to:

Rhona Durno

Email: constructionconsultation@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

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