Written evidence from The Cleaning and
Support Services Association
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The CSSA is delighted to have the opportunity
to make its submission into the Parliamentary Inquiry on Government
Assistance to Industry. The CSSA reviewed the policy goals of
the paper entitled A Strategy for Sustainable Growth as well as
providing its opinion on how the relationship between businesses
and the Department of Business, Innovations and Skills could be
improved. At the CSSA we feel that at times BIS has been too often
only an advocate of the Government, when it should also do more
to be the advocate of businesses to Government. We feel that BIS
should make the case for businesses within Government, even if
that means challenging other Government departments.
The CSSA also urges that the Government implements
the recommendations of the joint BIS and Trade Association Forum
initiative called Voices Of British Businesses which called
for a formal liaison between Government and trade associations,
where interested parties can meet regularly and work against agreed
agendas. We also feel that this recommendation must go beyond
BIS and be implemented with other Government Departments. A positive
example already exists between the CSSA and the Health and Safety
Executive.
Government policy as set out in the A Strategy
for Sustainable Growth paper lists various forms of assistance
to be provided to specific industries. We were disappointed to
find that the Cleaning Industry was not one of those industries
earmarked for support. The provision of cleaning ensures that
the businesses and other facility users can operate in a clean
and safe environment. The recent economic crisis has prompted
many clients to compel cleaners to cut back on their services.
This presents an unacceptable risk towards public health and safety.
The industry has also been at the forefront of developing sustainability
as well as enabling sustainability to be realised in other sectors.
The industry also provides a route of employment to those individuals
where the formal education system has failed them; and as a consequence
are long term unemployed. In light of these contributions we would
like to see the Government give the industry its due recognition
by providing assistance to grow.
The CSSA has also provided its commentary and
critique on various Government policies designed to bolster British
businesses. While we welcome many of these policies some of them
pose issues that need to be clarified. The fact that these policy
proposals need further clarification further underscores the need
for BIS and other Government departments to develop more formal
relationships between themselves and British businesses that would
enable both parties to develop a more effective collaboration
that would ensure mutually shared objectives are achieved.
INTRODUCTION
The Cleaning and Support Services Association
(CSSA) is the national trade association that represents the contract
cleaning industry. Our organisation's members encompass 70% of
the industry's turnover. The CSSA is pleased to have the opportunity
to air its opinions on the issue of Government support for businesses.
We feel that in the current economic climate businesses now more
than ever need an effective partnership with Government to help
realise our mutual objectives. To that end the CSSA has examined
the policy proposals as laid out in the A Strategy For Sustainable
Growth paper and has also provided its own commentary on the
role of the Department of Business, Skills and Innovations (BIS).
Contained below is the CSSA position on some of the policy areas
with comments, questions and critiques as well as our suggestions
on how the relationship between BIS and trade associations could
be redressed to the mutual benefit of both Government and Business.
STRATEGIC INVESTMENT
FUND AND
SUSTAINABILITY
In general the CSSA is concerned that in the
Strategic Investment Fund interim report some of the assistance
programs were targeted to benefit specific sectors while others
are to be applied across various sectors. We are disappointed
that the cleaning sector has not been regarded as a sector worthy
of receiving special assistance. The Cleaning Industry is worth
an estimated £10 billion and employs 450,000 individuals.
It contributes health and wellbeing of the nation by ensuring
that businesses and other facility users can operate in a clean
and safe environment. The industry is also at the forefront of
developing sustainability and being an enabler of sustainability
for other sectors. The Cleaning Industry is also unique in that
it is one of the few industries that provides an avenue for individuals
with little or no qualifications and enables the long term unemployed
to lessen their reliance on benefits by providing training and
qualifications that can be used to develop a career over the long
term. We feel that there is a lack of appreciation of the contribution
the industry makes to the UK economy. For instance there are special
assistance programs to develop wind and tidal technologies in
order to develop sources of low carbon energy. While this is a
positive endeavour to undertake in the fight against climate change
we believe the Government should not overlook the Cleaning Industry
and its endeavours to reduce carbon emissions.
For a considerable time the industry has made
strides towards daytime cleaning because it would preclude the
requirement for electricity to be consumed during the evening
hours. In order to make daytime cleaning work cleaning machines
would need to be battery operated, in order to eliminate the use
of power chords that could present a safety hazard to building
users. The batteries powering the machines would be charged by
a closed circuit generator that could receive its energy from
solar panels. This would represent an effective carbon neutral
solution that we feel the government should consider investing
in.
In A Strategy for Sustainable Growth
the Government underlines its commitment to ensure that highly
skilled migrants are allowed to settle and work in the UK. We
feel that the Government must understand that historically the
industry has had a heavy reliance on foreign labour. Therefore
if the Government is to undertake action that would potentially
shut off the labour supply for cleaning companies then we would
like to know what steps the Government would take to ensure the
availability of staff.
THE ROLE
AND REMIT
OF THE
DEPARTMENT OF
BUSINESS SKILLS
AND INNOVATIONS
The CSSA feels that BIS has too often been an
advocate of the Government towards businesses when it should also
be the advocate of businesses towards Government, even if it means
challenging any policy precepts laid out by other government departments.
We are concerned that the recent comments made by the Secretary
of State for BIS at the recent Liberal Democrat conference were
unhelpful towards the business community. The CSSA believes the
way forward would be to develop better liaisons with BIS and for
the establishment of dedicated staff postings for each sector/industry
as they would be better equipped to respond to any enquiries and
problems businesses in certain sectors face and to provide dedicated
policy support that businesses need. In November 2009 the Voices
Of British Businesses report was published. It was a joint
collaboration between the Trade Association Forum and BIS, which
explored ideas of how Government and Trade Associations could
achieve a better working relationship. The report contained a
series of recommendations on how trade associations and BIS could
develop a more effective collaboration in order to achieve mutual
interests. Chief among those recommendations was to establish
a formal liaison between BIS and various trade associations. The
CSSA would like to stress that this type of relationship should
be extended across other departments. Already such a relationship
exists between the Health and Safety Executive and the CSSA and
we feel that it is essential that more departments follow this
example as our members activities straddle across various areas
of Government. To that effect we have included as part of our
written evidence an excerpt of the recommendations sections of
the report for the committee to examine (Appendix 3).
THE TRAIN
TO GAIN
SCHEME
The CSSA is concerned about the proposed cuts
to the Train to Gain Scheme. As training and skills fall
within the remit of BIS, we feel compelled to raise this issue
in this enquiry. The CSSA is concerned that substantial cuts will
make it difficult for businesses to provide effective training
for its personnel which in turn prevent businesses from providing
a quality service. It should be noted that the Cleaning Industry
plays a pivotal role in not only providing an avenue of employment
for the long term unemployed but also imparting training and skills
to those individuals that they can use in the long term to seek
advancement. The CSSA believes that the Government needs consider
likelihood that such cuts could frustrate these aspirations. In
addition to the proposed cuts Asset Skills has highlighted some
aspects of the apprenticeship schemes that employers in the Facilities
Management sector have indicated that need addressing. An excerpt
containing a list of issues raised by Asset Skills has been included
as part of our written evidence (Appendix 1 and 2).
APPENDIX 1
AN EXCERPT OF A LETTER BETWEEN ASSET SKILLS
AND JOHN HAYES MP, MINISTER OF STATE FOR BIS
Listed below are some of the main issues that
Asset Skills' research has identified as being of concern to employers
in its footprint (business services including facilities management
(FM) and cleaning, housing, property and parking).
1. Funding needs to reflect better the demographics
of the workforce to enable employers to make a step change in
raising aspiration and skills. Current funding is focused on the
16-18 age range, understandable given the large numbers not in
employment or training. The rigid application of this rule however
means that sectors such as cleaning, that require staff to operate
machinery, miss out, as they are, by law, restricted to employing
those aged over 18. In addition, the nature of facilities management
requires employees to have a level of work experience that requires
some years to achieve.
2. The inclusion of Functional Skills in
the framework for level 2 apprenticeships is at a significantly
higher level than previous key skills qualifications and beyond
the reach of many in sectors such as cleaning and catering. A
number of large employers have indicated to us that this will
make apprenticeships difficult to deliver and as a result there
will be a negative impact on achievement rates.
3. The lack of flexibility in the apprenticeship
framework (known as the Specification of Apprenticeships Standards,
England/Wales) around the level of guided learning and "off
station" hours provides a disincentive as it assumes that
electricians or others in highly technical roles, have similar
working practices to those in more elementary occupations. This
is not the case and the current situation discriminates against
the latter group while increases bureaucracy and the cost of delivery.
4. The reduction in funding announced for
large employers (above 1,000 staff) favours organisations with
a large number of staff in a fixed location. In facilities management
the opposite scenario is more often the case as they provide support
services to companies across the UK delivered by small teams in
a wide range of locations. The outcome is often that the numbers
employed by individual FM companies in any one area are insufficient
to make it economically viable for a provider to create and deliver
the programme. See case study 1 in Appendix 2.
The Asset Skills Virtual Academy for Business
Services is working collaboratively on behalf of a group of facilities
management employers to address the issue by bundling candidates
from different employers and brokering the learning to selected
providers. This will help to mitigate some of the difficulties
caused by small numbers of staff in remote locations but will
still not create equality of opportunity between different groups
of employers.
5. Employers understand that all pre-assessment
activity, including candidate diagnostic work, may no longer be
offset against the funding for the programme. These activities
are often very time-consuming yet essential to ensure the candidate
has the potential to achieve the qualification and that the selected
programme is right for the candidate.
APPENDIX 2
AN EXCERPT OF A LETTER BETWEEN ASSET SKILLS
AND JOHN HAYES MP, MINISTER OF STATE FOR BIS
CASE STUDY
1
A facilities management company provides services
to a national organisation with 250 branches across England. The
contract requires the company to provide two employees to each
branch and, inevitably, many of the locations are remote in terms
of access to training providers. The cost of delivering an NVQ
or apprenticeship in these circumstances is significantly increased
due to the expense and time of travel for either the provider
or the employee, and the lack of opportunity to gain the economies
of scale that can be achieved by employers with large numbers
in a fixed location such as a supermarket. Time off for learning
becomes a greater issue when half of the team on any one site
is involved, particularly when sickness or other logistical issues
are taken into account.
CASE STUDY
2
This case study illustrates the commitment of
employers in the facilities management and business services sector
to employ and train apprentices. It also illustrates the challenges
of trying to attract candidates to an apprenticeship programme
where the industry has a mature age profile and the nature of
many jobs restricts recruitment of young people. Despite the difficulties,
the employers involved and Asset Skills remain committed to the
project and efforts to recruit continue.
Jarvis Training Management is the training arm
of a major business services employer that has gone into administration.
Jarvis Training Management is, however, a profitable organisation
that continues to trade and earlier this year it approached Asset
Skills for support with a project to deliver Apprenticeships in
Cleaning and Support Services at Level 2 in collaboration with
other sector employers. The aim of the programme was to deliver
large numbers of apprentices aged 16-18 years, in groups of 50,
to raise the profile of the new apprenticeship and attract young
entrants to a sector that traditionally has a mature workforce.
The project received support from the north west regional NES.
The provider, through Asset Skills, invited
other employers from the business services sector to take up places
on the programme. Responses from employers were positive with
eight national companies indicating they would offer places. Jarvis
would also take up a number of places within each group. The model
of delivery included a 28 week training programme, with Jarvis
covering employment and training costs for 16 hours per week.
Participating employers would offer apprentices a post equivalent
to a minimum of 16 hours per week but with the option of the host
employer paying for additional hours if the post allowed. Employers
would cover all equipment and supervision costs. Pay rates for
candidates were set in line with apprenticeship guidelines and
Jarvis also made provision for a completion bonus for each candidate.
Employers agreed to offer completing candidates a permanent position
on site contract terms on successful completion of the apprenticeship.
Recruitment of candidates began in April and
vacancies were posted with local Connexions services and the National
Apprenticeship Service. Vacancy locations are national including
London, Birmingham, Oldham, Sheffield, Liverpool and Sunderland.
Sites are a mixture of private and public sector contracts. Some
locations have specific recruitment requirements, such as a need
for security clearance and others, particularly some hospital
sites looking for people aged 18 and above because of requirements
for all posts to operate cleaning equipment. All the potential
employers are high quality service providers with the ability
to offer permanent positions with good quality benefits and opportunities
for career progression. However, to date, the recruitment activity
to this project has proved largely unsuccessful and only four
candidates have been successfully recruited to the programme.
Neither Connexions nor the National Apprenticeship
Service have been able to attract candidates to these apprenticeships
despite the prospect that these roles offer genuine job security
and career opportunities. Connexions has cited significant challenges
in marketing a cleaning apprenticeship to young people. The employers
are disappointed in the response but aware that cleaning as a
sector does not have an attractive image.
APPENDIX 3
EXCERPT OF THE VOICES OF BRITISH INDUSTRY
REPORT
RECOMMENDATIONS
Engagement and Consultation
To formalise an arrangement of regular two-way
engagement and consultation between Government bodies and Trade
Associations about policy issues, to bring about continuous improvement
in building better working relationships and improving policy
development, implementation and wider ownership (among businesses)
of policy outcomes and mechanisms. To underpin this, both parties
to develop an annual agenda that incorporates effective stakeholder
engagement and communication through a series of regular joint
meetings, working groups and conferences that are regularly reviewed
to ensure that practices, outcomes, engagement, and dialogue about
emerging issues are well-targeted and focused.
Understanding and Leadership
Government bodies and Trade Associations to
forge an effective partnership, using imaginative approaches and
tools to bridge mutual gaps in understanding (eg poor understanding
of sectors by Government bodies; poor understanding of how Government
works), with Trade Associations leading on sector thinking, standard
setting, building proactive policies (alongside their reactive
work), and developing a long-term strategic outlook that incorporates
practical solutions and greater transparency. Government bodies
and Trade Associations should jointly lead the development of
sector and/or issue-based road maps (including shared visions)
for the future, including delivery. Government bodies to develop
strategy involving sourcing suitably qualified staff, broader
use of secondments and fact-finding visits to businesses.
Networking
Government bodies and Trade Associations should
work closely together to sponsor the creation of additional "networks",
"forums"', "alliances" or "federations"
which provide a focus for collaborative work with Government bodies
on policy and delivery, and influence EU legislation (particularly
that focused on only one sector). Trade Associations in the same
sector to work together to provide a consolidated industry view,
develop skills, and policy development and delivery, while Government
bodies should maintain good liaison with international Trade Associations
which represent sectors active in the UK, to complement contact
between UK Trade Associations and their EU counterparts to help
ensure better outcomes for UK plc.
Joint Projects
Government should as needed maintain working-level
contacts with European and international associations, with a
view to identifying synergies and opportunities for closer working,
and to better understanding policy positions adopted by other
countries or groups of countries, while acknowledging too that
in some sectors there may be cross-currents between national and
multi-national priorities.
23 September 2010
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