Clause 135
Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill [Lords]
1:00 pm
Nick Raynsford (Greenwich and Woolwich, Labour)
On Second Reading, I drew attention to my interest in this issue. Before we discuss the clause, I should reiterate that I am currently the honorary vice-chairman of the Construction Industry Council, and have for the past four years been respectively its chairman and deputy chairman. I thank the hon. Member for Peterborough for his kind remarks about my past in relation to the fire service. I am afraid he will groan when I tell him that I have a past in relation to the construction industry—I was Construction Minister between 1997 and 2001. Before that, I was an Opposition spokesperson on such matters and spent some considerable time on what became the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996.