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Skanska checked the names of 66,000 people hoping to work on its UK projects against a blacklist between 2005 and 2009, the firm鈥檚 executive vice president of human resources Harvey Francis has said.

Giving evidence to the Scottish Affairs select committee yesterday as part of its ongoing investigation into blacklisting in the construction industry, Francis acknowledged 鈥渞ecords indicate鈥� the firm had been 鈥渙ne of the highest users鈥� of the services of confirmed blacklisting organisation The Consulting Association (TCA).

Skanska was one of the biggest clients of TCA and spent more on its vetting services in the last four years of its existence than any other contractor.

Francis disclosed the firm checked workers鈥� names against the TCA blacklist on a string of high profile public sector projects, including Skanska鈥檚 refurbishment of the Ministry of Defence鈥檚 headquarters in Whitehall and construction of facilities at RAF Wyton air base.

Other public sector jobs where the blacklist was checked included hospitals in Coventry, Derby, Mansfield and Walsall, St Barts hospital in London, Bristol schools and Dovegate Prison in Staffordshire.

revealed Skanska was the second highest spender on TCA services between 1996 and 2009, with a total spend of 拢216,000, including spend by a business Skanska acquired in 2000. This was just behind the largest user of the now-defunct TCA, Sir Robert McAlpine, which spent 拢220,000 on its services over the period.

During the committee session chair Ian Davidson disclosed he had seen evidence from the Information Commissioners鈥� Office鈥檚 (ICO) investigation into blacklisting that indicated Skanska blacklisted 500 electricians that worked on the strike-hit Jubilee Line extension between 1995 and 1997.

He said one typical worker entry on the list read: 鈥淎llowed himself to be drawn along with the course of events at JEL 鈥� not in frontline of action.鈥� Davidson said the record noted companies had 鈥渘ot furthered [employment of the worker]鈥� on 15 subsequent occasions.

Davidson said the source of the Jubilee line workers鈥� blacklist was attributed to TCA鈥檚 cost code for Skanska.

Francis said he had not been aware of any evidence linking Skanska to the blacklisting of Jubilee Line workers prior to the session.

He said Skanska UK was 鈥渢ruly sorry for its involvement鈥� in TCA and said the firm would 鈥渁ssess the validity鈥� of any claim for compensation made by any individual 鈥渋f they can demonstrate that our actions prejudiced them getting work and they suffered loss as a result鈥�.

Francis - who has been in post since September 2008 and previously held the role of HR director for the firm鈥檚 infrastructure business from October 2007 鈥� said he had had no knowledge of Skanska鈥檚 relationship with TCA until the Guardian contacted Skanska in the week the paper broke the news in 2009.

He said the firm had conducted 鈥渁 full investigation in terms of our past use [of blacklisting]鈥�.

The investigation found Skanska used TCA services including reference checks, a news monitoring service to check 鈥渆xtremist press鈥�, and attended TCA forums.

Invoices for TCA checks were authorised by the firm鈥檚 director of industrial relations Stephen Quant, who took early retirement in 2009. Quant was assisted by consultant John Dickinson, who approved invoices in his absence.

Skanska decided whether or not to use TCA services on a project-by-project basis 鈥減rimarily on assessment of risks鈥�, Francis said.

鈥淪even or eight鈥� of the firm鈥檚 12 divisions used the referencing service. Each division鈥檚 HR director would decide whether or not to use the service on a project, in consultation with Quant.

Francis said the service was mainly used on 鈥渉igh risk, high profile鈥� jobs, particularly in sectors such as education and defence.

He said: 鈥淥nce the decision had been taken to use the service on a project, as part of the pre-induction questionnaire that people wanting access to our sites would fill in 鈥� that was then collated on to a template that was faxed over to The Consulting Association and then if a flag appeared against any one of those names a phone call would come through which would be dealt with by one of the senior HR team and then a decision taken as to what to do 鈥� whether to deny or grant access.鈥�

Board members 鈥渒new we had a reference checking process in place [鈥�] to varying degrees of knowledge, but did not know the detail,鈥� he said.

He said: 鈥淓veryone we have spoken to [during the course of our investigation] says with the benefit of hindsight we should have asked more questions鈥�.

Francis admitted Skanska鈥檚 culture at the time it was using TCA services 鈥渨asn鈥檛 right鈥� and argued the firm was 鈥渟tanding up to this as a company鈥�.

Francis confirmed no staff have been penalised or lost their jobs for using TCA services and some who were involved are still employed by Skanska.

He said the firm had been too 鈥渟iloed鈥� in the past, which had contributed to the lack of senior management awareness of TCA.

All staff have since undergone data protection training and the firm has 鈥渞e-rolled out鈥� its code of conduct, set up an ethics committee and an externally-run whistleblower hotline, he said.

A process has been set up so that teams formally discuss ethical dilemmas 鈥渢hree or four times a year鈥�.

He added: 鈥淚t鈥檚 a very different company now to what it was鈥�.

He said the negative reaction from the media and unions in Sweden 鈥渨as even stronger than in the UK鈥�.

Francis agreed to supply the committee with a full list of projects where the referencing service was used.

A Skanska spokeswoman said: 鈥淭he use of blacklists is against the values and behaviours of our company. We recognise and support employees鈥� rights to form or join trade unions and we take a proactive approach to building good relationships with the unions.

鈥淔ollowing the closure of the Consulting Association in 2009, Skanska carried out a thorough investigation into its use of the service, so that we could take steps to ensure we comply with best practice.

鈥淒riven by our code of conduct, we are committed to an ethical and lawful approach to business, and we promote a culture of care for everyone who works with us or for us.

鈥淲e can confirm that Skanska is not engaged in any covert vetting or blacklisting and is not aware of this continuing in the UK construction industry.鈥�