Progress behind the scenes
British Cleaning Council (BCC) Chairman, Jim Melvin, gives us an update on the latest efforts to help the industry.
We remain disappointed at the traction with Government and via the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for the Cleaning and Hygiene Industry so, behind the scenes, myself and colleagues at the BCC are working on a number of initiatives which we hope will bear fruit later this year.
This includes looking at ways to boost our programme of lobbying, which is crucial for influencing and educating
Government and legislators about our agenda, and the essential work of the cleaning and hygiene sector as a whole.
In recent times, we’ve been reaching out to a range of MPs, ministers, civil servants, and Government bodies on a number of issues. These include arguing for help for the sector to deal with severe staff shortages, and for more recognition for the vital work that cleaning and hygiene staff faithfully and professionally complete to all our benefit.
We haven’t seen as much progress as we would have liked on this agenda, and so we are considering how to bring in professional lobbying support. Knowing who to contact on a particular issue and how to grab their attention are key to successful lobbying. It’s wholly common for large organisations and sizeable firms to employ a specialist lobbyist with this kind of expertise, but it doesn't come cheap.
Therefore, as an industry, we’re considering how to fund that kind of operation, and whether there is a consensus across businesses and associations to join and support a collective effort to make sure the voice of the industry is heard at the highest levels.
Another major issue for us is to make sure the incredible and critical work of the cleaning and hygiene sector and staff during the COVID-19 pandemic is not forgotten, and that we continue to play a major role in being prepared for and helping to stop any future variant or pandemic. In that regard, we have a duty to make sure the country has
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learnt the lessons of the pandemic or there will always be the threat of it happening again with the same mistakes or incorrect judgement calls.
During the last two years, the UK public has been reminded how important good standards of hygiene are to the nation’s public health, which provides a clear opportunity that must be taken to ensure that high standards are maintained and enshrined as crucial going forward.
Therefore, we're working with key industry partners on the feasibility of a white paper on the lessons to be learned from the pandemic across all facets of our great industry. It will include opinion and evidence from public health experts and the cleaning and hygiene community in order to agree a set of recommendations on the conclusions. We hope the white paper will be considered and fully supported by both the APPG and Government as part of the UK COVID-19 Inquiry.
We are also hoping for good news in autumn on the bid for the Cleaning Hygiene Operative apprenticeship, which has now been submitted. If it gets the greenlight, the Apprenticeship-Levy funded training programme and apprenticeship will ensure significant amounts of funding currently lost to the cleaning and hygiene industry can be fully invested in training for our teams, which will improve recognition for the skills that sector staff have, as well as getting rid of this generic and frankly ridiculous narrative that’s thrown out on the industry being ‘low skilled’. It will also remove what is effectively a stealth tax on the industry.
It must be stressed that all these initiatives are still at various stages, and whilst it’s too early to wholly determine the outcomes, we remain fully determined to drive progress.
I will continue to update as we are able and my sincere thanks and appreciation go to those who continue to work hard, assist, and support our industry aims.
www.britishcleaningcouncil.org twitter.com/TomoCleaning
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