Mr. Paul Sheridan:

Yes, we are highly involved with the general conditions of contract, GCC, consultation in trying to shape what is best for the taxpayer and the industry to make it work for both. The public works contract is the only one of its kind in the world. That was a Government decision about 15 years ago. There is no jurisprudence on it. Nobody knows what each of the clauses actually means from a legal perspective. Ultimately, what it is designed to do is make contractors legally and contractually obligated to notify that there could be a delay or a change to the contract value. That could be down to design changes, legislative changes or even down to war. We have all had them. We have had pandemics in the last six years. Everybody forgets the massive impact that shutting down the construction sector had on productivity. If the contract is designed to be adversarial, it puts people into a position where they are constantly notifying and making arguments as to why there are delays, whereas an NEC and other forms of contract encourage and incentivise the parties to sit down and problem solve. It is in everybody's interest to solve the problem. Contractors are more profitable when they are off site as quickly as possible. They do not make money getting strung out on sites because they get into disputes, especially as legal costs are so high.