The government is failing to meet its spending commitments for public services, according to the Construction Products Association.
Michael Ankers, chief executive of the CPA, told Building that, less than a year after launching its programme to pump £19bn of capital investment over three years into housing, roads, schools and hospitals, the government was falling behind.

Ankers pointed to a 3% drop in housing repair and maintenance work between April and December 2001 compared with the same period in 2000. He also said there had been delays in studies on new roads and that only two hospital projects were let in the nine-month period.

Ankers said: "Although the government has a clear investment strategy, they are not at present monitoring whether this investment is achieving the targets set."

He added that there was a lack of information on the schools building programme.

It doesn’t know if the investment is achieving targets set

Michael Ankers, chief executive, Construction Products Association

Ankers said the slippage was not due to lack of money but because of planning delays and problems with the PFI.

He called for the government to report regularly on whether it was meeting its spending targets, and added that it should make available the investment required to meet its targets at this summer's comprehensive spending review.