Cleaning up government
British Cleaning Council Chairman, Paul Thrupp, on the importance of the cleaning industry engaging with politicians.
As you’re probably aware, the British Cleaning Council (BCC) has been campaigning and lobbying for many years for recognition of the cleaning industry and for the people who work within it. As an Industry, we contribute over £50bn to the UK economy and employ around 1.6 million people in various capacities within the many areas of the industry that we cover.
For so long the cleaning industry and its people have gone unnoticed and many of our frontline cleaning staff have been known as ‘the invisible workforce’. This workforce had little or no interaction with the staff and, as such, were not recognised for the great job they do.
However, the pandemic has bought along a fresh approach to cleaning and hygiene and improved regard and recognition for our cleaning people. Now everyone recognises the great job they do and how essential they are for the UK recovery and for maintaining a clean and hygienic environment for the future.
The work of cleaning staff can be overlooked. The early days of lockdown saw us all fight for the recognition our cleaning staff and the industry in general quite rightly deserved. None of us could believe that our valuable cleaning operatives were not being recognised as ‘key’ or ‘essential workers’ and we spent many long hours lobbying Government to recognise the importance of cleaning and hygiene in controlling the spread of this awful virus.
Many hours, days and weeks of lobbying took place, with many live media broadcasts and interviews to highlight the importance of the industry, which finally came to fruition in May this year when the Prime Minister and the Opposition Leader both praised the ‘unsung heroes’ of the public sector who ‘keep us safe’ during the outbreak. They paid tribute to the cleaning operatives who were ‘doing their best to keep our places hygienic and safe’ and doing ‘an extraordinary job’.
To support our fight for recognition and to assist us in the many challenges we face at the BCC, we are sponsoring the formation of an APPG – an All-Party Parliamentary Group for the UK cleaning industry. This will give our industry a voice in Parliament where we can influence discussions, debate, and pose questions. We are currently looking to attract prominent MPs to our APPG, particularly those who represent areas where our UK businesses operate.
We are working alongside Stephen Kerr, the former Member of Parliament for Stirling. Stephen is well respected within
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the political world and knows the cleaning industry well from his days at Kimberly-Clark Professional. Stephen will guide us through the intricacies of forming the group and with his support, I’m sure we soon see the formation of a highly-respected and active APPG.
Stephen Kerr commented: “Never underestimate the appetite of your MP to engage with you as a local business. I can assure you; MPs genuinely want to hear from you. They want to know about the issues you are dealing with as a business. You shouldn’t expect them to anticipate those issues. You shouldn’t assume they will know about something if you haven’t made them aware of it.
“The APPG is about MPs working together with the BCC to get the UK cleaning industry a fair hearing in Parliament and with Ministers. And if there’s one clear lesson from the events of the last few years, especially for all of us in the world of business, it is that political engagement is no longer a nice-to-have option, it is a necessity.”
There can’t be an MP out there who doesn’t know someone close who works in our fabulous industry, so our APPG cannot fail. If you would like to support and/or get involved in the All-Party Parliamentary Group for the UK cleaning industry, then please contact the BCC or myself directly.
www.britishcleaningcouncil.org (
info@britishcleaningcouncil.org)
twitter.com/TomoCleaning
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