I received a press release from the British Cleaning Council this week, in which it said it’s “hopeful” that our new Government will listen to the lobbying campaign aimed at getting our industry heard. The BCC lobbied the previous Government in support of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for the Cleaning & Hygiene Industry's report ‘Embedding Effective Hygiene for a Resilient UK’, but with little success. While the BCC believes that newly-elected Labour ministers and the party's 404 MPs are likely to be more interested in what the sector has to say, I must confess that I don’t hold out much hope bearing in mind the way things have been going, generally, in recent weeks.   

  

On the plus side, since the election, the BCC has met with leading industry figures and lobbying experts to review the campaign and secure support for the re-establishment of the APPG, (since all APPGs were dissolved ahead of the election). Things went well. It has also contacted the Cabinet Secretary with a view to contributing to the review of national resilience taking place in response to the Covid Inquiry report. We lack resilience and proper preparation for the next pandemic – which, we are warned, is on its way. We in the industry are well aware that proper hygiene practices can help prevent, delay and mitigate the impact of a pandemic, so it’s important that the Government listens us. The BCC’s mini-manifesto, launched before the election, set out the industry's priorities on this. It made some important points and is available to read at: https://britishcleaningcouncil.org

   

One of the key points was the need to make cleaning staff eligible for the Skilled Worker Visa scheme and I couldn’t agree more with this stance. The general public talks about skilled workers as if it’s only the ‘old-school’ professionals we should be inviting to our shores, such as doctors etc, whereas we proved during the pandemic that the skills offered by our industry are paramount to the nation’s health & safety. I’d add that we ought to also up the ante on the training of prisoners in cleaning services provision and consider offering support upon their release. I’ve seen a number interviewed since this week’s mass release to free up prison space, who are expecting to be back inside within days because they don’t have the skills, the work or other support they need to survive on the outside. I’ve visited training schemes in three prisons over the years but am unsure as to whether they’ve proved fruitful in the long-term. If you have any insights or comments on this, please do get in touch! Also, I’ve seen figures this week showing huge numbers of people in the UK who are able to work but are not seeking employment. With our industry crying out for cleaners, couldn’t this pool of potential workers somehow be persuaded to join us? And if not, why not?