| Label | Content |
|---|---|
| Meeting: | Plenary on 07 December 2005 |
| Session name: | Plenary on 07/12/2005 between 10:00 and 13:00 |
| Question by: | Dee Doocey |
| Organisation: | Liberal Democrats |
| Asked of: | LDA |
Question
Tendering for contracts (Supplementary) [3]
My final question is about procurement, which leads neatly on to it. The draft Procurement Principles mention a number of key criteria that have got to be met including a list of things like community benefit, local labour and London's Living Wage, which I know the Mayor in particular is very committed to. Could you just explain why the first contract that you have dished out, the one for under-grounding the power lines, you have not managed to get the contractor to agree to pay the living wage and that, according to the ODA, they have just agreed to pay the minimum wage, some £1.65 an hour less. I have a real concern here that if the first contract you give out, you cannot get the contractor to agree to your own draft procurement principles, what on earth will happen further down the line?
Answer
Dr Marc Stephens (Executive Director, London Development Agency): I think the good news is that that first contractor has agreed to pay the living wage.
Dee Doocey (AM): The minimum wage - not the living wage?
Dr Marc Stephens (Executive Director, London Development Agency): The living wage, voluntarily.
Dee Doocey (AM): That is not what we were told by the ODA at the meeting you attended last week. I have actually got the transcript. What they said was, `We have received reasonably good news that Murphy, which has been contracted to bury the power lines that run up and down the Lee Valley, have undertaken to pay the minimum wage and we are pursuing that through contract negotiations.' Are you saying that statement is incorrect?
Dr Marc Stephens (Executive Director, London Development Agency): I think we need to check up on that because they would be legally required to pay the minimum wage anyway. I think what we mean to say is the living wage but let me come back and just properly confirm that with you.
Dee Doocey (AM): Because he specifically mentioned the living wage but said that the sort of good news is that they have agreed to pay the minimum wage. I think that is very important.
On this page
Related questions
| Question | Reference | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Tendering for contracts (Supplementary) [5] | 7 December 2005 | |
| Tendering for contracts (Supplementary) [6] | 7 December 2005 | |
| Tendering for contracts | 2005/0447-1 | 7 December 2005 |
| Tendering for contracts (Supplementary) [1] | 7 December 2005 | |
| Tendering for contracts (Supplementary) [2] | 7 December 2005 | |
| Tendering for contracts (Supplementary) [4] | 7 December 2005 | |
| Tendering for contracts (Supplementary) [7] | 7 December 2005 | |
| Tendering for contracts (Supplementary) [8] | 7 December 2005 | |
| Tendering for contracts (Supplementary) [9] | 7 December 2005 | |
| Contract letting | 2005/0442-1 | 7 December 2005 |