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Blacklisting (Construction Industry)

I will come to how we are dealing with the problem. Procurement has been mentioned. Any company, whether it works on public contracts or not, should comply with the law of the land. We expect companies not to break either data protection law or trade union law when planning or undertaking work for the public sector. Of course we recognise that construction companies need to ensure that they recruit the right calibre of person for the job, but there is no need to undertake covert and unfair vetting of the kind that TCA appears to have performed. The Information Commissioner is following up his investigation in various ways. First, TCA is to be prosecuted, as I have said. I understand that the case will be heard towards the end of April. I also understand that the Information Commissioner is making further inquiries with the subscriber companies to determine the extent of their involvement with TCA. Those inquiries could lead to further action by the Information Commissioner. My Department will stay in close touch with the Information Commissioner and, as I have said, BERR officials have already inspected many of the records held by the Information Commissioner.