THE NATIONAL FEDERATION OF BUILDERS RESPONDS TO THE BUDGET
Julia Evans, chief executive, National Federation of Builders said:
"This is a beige budget from Brown, with little for construction to get excited about other than measures to promote economic stability and growth.
"The continued and increasing public investment year on year into the country's infrastructure is good news for our members and good news for the industry.
"Given the high rate of public borrowing and the many targets set by Government, the Chancellor has continued to focus on prudent book-keeping to ensure this pipeline continues to flow in the run up to 2012 and this must be welcomed.
"However, as the NFB has highlighted before, with such injections of taxpayers money, it is essential that the Government delivers on its promise to encourage best value amongst those that decide how the money is spent.
"Concerns remain over the limited progress made in this area and the Federation looks forward to seeing whether the Chancellor can save the �6 billion as outlined to him by Gershon and one hopes that the Government's procurement practice matures in parallel with the advances made by the industry.
"We await further details on PFI, planning gain supplement and skills and training."