Steve Witherden

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Jeremy. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Middlesbrough and Thornaby East (Andy McDonald) on securing this crucial debate. I have had the privilege of standing in solidarity with the facilities management staff and speaking at the PCS pickets that have been mentioned by others in this debate. Their demands could not be clearer: fair pay, better working conditions and an end to outsourcing in Government Departments. While delivering vital services such as cleaning, catering and security to keep civil service Departments running effectively, those employed on outsourced contracts are treated as second-class employees compared with their in-house counterparts. The result is a two-tier system with a sharp racial divide. BAME and migrant workers are disproportionately employed in these roles. Last year we saw the long and hard-fought dispute between the Department for Education and its outsourced cleaners come to an end. Reports of those workers being overworked, treated “like rats” and denied the London living wage were truly appalling. Unfortunately, such treatment is common practice when it comes to the subcontracting of Government services to private firms. Many workers on outsourced contracts struggle to make ends meet, especially during the ongoing cost of living crisis, as their wages are often limited to the national minimum or living wage. In some Government Departments and agency workplaces, PCS members have even resorted to establishing food banks to support low-paid staff. Adding to their economic insecurity, those workers are also excluded from access to decent pension schemes. The current outsourcing model weakens the Government’s ability to hold companies accountable. Basic protections for outsourced workers, such as company sick pay, are shirked, often forcing employees to continue working while unwell as they cannot afford to take time off. These outsourcing practices propagate the exploitation of employees. The companies behind them can easily avoid taking responsibility for poor pay and conditions, and the quality and fairness of essential public services are being compromised all the while. Will the Government honour the welcome promise of “the biggest wave of insourcing…for a generation”? Will they bring services back in-house where they belong and show their loyalty to the cleaners, the security staff and all the other undervalued workers who keep this country running, not the profiteering directors of outsourcing companies? Diolch yn fawr.