Local Government Act 1988

The United Kingdom Local Government Act 1988 is an Act of the United Kingdom Parliament. It was famous for its controversial section 28. This section prohibited local authorities from promoting, in a specified category of schools, "the teaching of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship". The Act did have other effects also, and was rather a mixed bag of changes. Part I introduced compulsory tendering of contracts for certain types of activities. Part II dealt with aspects of public sector contracting. Part III allowed housing authorities to provide financial assistance to people living in private property. Section 38, part of the "miscellaneous and general" coverage of Part IV, abolished dog licences.

Section 17
Section 17(1) stipulates that public bodies covered by the Act are not permitted to take "non-commercial considerations" into account when carrying out their functions relating to awarding contracts. The Act lists non-commercial matters relating to public supply or works contracts, including terms and conditions of employment offered by contractors to their workers, the involvement of contractors with irrelevant fields of Government policy, and the conduct of contractors or workers in industrial disputes.

In 2000, the Employment Sub-committee of the House of Commons Education and Employment Select Committee suggested that this requirement needed to be amended so that local councils could address local employment gaps by including local labour clauses in appropriate contracts.