§ Mrs. Jegerasked the Minister for the Civil Service what steps are taken to ensure that contract cleaning firms employed by Her Majesty's Government provide fair wages and working conditions for the cleaners; and whether there are monitoring and inspection arrangements to ensure that the contract conditions are continuously fulfilled.
§ Mr. Charles R. MorrisAs I indicated to my hon. Friend the Member for Wal-sall, South (Mr. George) on 26th October 1976—[Vol. 913, c.184 ]—following discussions with representatives of both employers and employees in the contract cleaning industry new clauses were introduced in all tenders for contracts to clean Government offices invited on or after 1st April 1975, requiring the successful contractor to pay his employees engaged on the contract rates of pay no less favourable than those for local authority staff engaged on similar work. The continuing operation of cleaning contracts is the responsibility of the individual Departments. In order that all 351W Departments are aware of their responsibilities the Civil Service Department has recently reminded them of these and I have no reason to believe that contractors are failing to observe the condition.