New rules governing finance of construction contracts have been issued by the Treasury's money-saving unit. The Office of Government Commerce (OGC) called for greater transparency and for no unfair withholding of retentions under a new charter published by its Fair Payment Working Group. The group was set up to catalyse effort in agreeing good fair payment practice across the public sector following the Latham and Egan reviews. Work with the construction industry has been marked by heavy losses of both money and productivity, and the OGC predicts the new charter could save the public sector up to £750m a year. For futher details go to www.ogc.gov.uk
