ODA has 'no evidence' of Olympic Park blacklisting
The chief executive of the Olympic Delivery Authority has insisted that it has seen no evidence of contractors using blacklisting on the construction of the Olympic Park.
Speaking at the London Assembly budget and performance committee this morning, Dennis Hone insisted that the ODA would have “gone after” contractors if it had seen blacklisting in practice.
He said: “The ODA did not receive any evidence or could find any evidence of blacklisting on the Olympic Park during the construction phase or otherwise.
“If we had we would have gone after that because it’s a practice we would not have supported in any which way, shape or form.”
Mr Hone was later asked had he gone back to contractors since blacklisting came to the fore again in recent months.
He said: “What I can say in terms of the ODA is that that was an issue raised some time ago and has recently resurfaced in the press and discussions. At that time there was a discussion with our contractors and we requested evidence from people making the allegations and no evidence was made forthcoming because if it had been then we would have gone after the contractors involved.
“We have [categorical] statements from those involved at the time that there were no such practises going on. So [we had a] lack of evidence and [categorical] assurances from the contractors. In terms of legacy going forward we haven’t gone back to the contractors at this stage but we want to make ensure that we reinforce that those practises are not acceptable.”
Asked whether he would ask contractors whether they had entered into contracts with firms who provided blacklists, Mr Hone responded “we can look at that”.
Shadow business secretary Chuka Umunna has tabled a series of Parliamentary questions calling for an investigation into allegations contractors used blacklists on Olympic 2012 contracts.
Mr Umunna has asked the culture secretary to investigate whether contractors used public monies received under public contracts to pay to obtain information on construction workers from lists maintained by the Consulting Association.
Ucatt general secretary Steve Murphy had raised the possibility that “taxpayers’ money meant to be spent on the building of the Olympic Stadium… was instead spent on blacklisting construction workers” when giving evidence in front of a Scottish Affairs Select Committee last month.