Tories: OFT should avoid 'ambulance-chasing'

Shadow construction minister Mark Prisk has said the OFT needs to avoid "ambulance-chasing" in its ongoing inquiry into the industry.

Speaking at this week's Conservative Party Conference, Prisk said "The OFT has been very aggressive in trying to police misdemeanours. I don't have a problem with that in principle, but we have to ensure it is not just ambulance chasing."

Prisk, who as a shadow minister in business, entreprise and regulatory reform also oversees business competition, said he intended to meet with the OFT to ensure that its motives in the construction industry inquiry were genuine.

"If there are significant problems in the way the construction industry works, then they need to be rooted out. My job is to ensure that this inquiry is more about genuine competitive disadvantage, and less about political mileage."

Prisk made his comments at an industry event jointly organised by the Construction Products Association, Construction Industry Council and the Construction Confederation.

Vaughan Burnand, chief executive of Shepherd Construction, also spoke at the event. He said: "Within the OFT inquiry there are people who have colluded on tendering, and they should be rooted out. But there are people on that list who are guilty of very minor indiscretions. It is disproportionate."

Burnand, whose firm has not been implicated in the OFT's inquiry into the construction industry, told Building the threatened fines of up to 10% of global turnover were inappropriate in the current financial climate.

He said: "Why, in an industry with margins of typically 1%, would you threaten a fine of 10% of turnover? With the market the way it is, that could bring a company down. The last thing this industry needs right now is more bankruptcies."