TOWER OF LONDON CLEANERS

That this House notes that the Tower of London has seen thehighest number of visitors in over 30 years and that the Historic Royal Palaces have seen an admissions income for 2011/12 of 42.8 million; expresses disappointment that cleaners employed at the Tower of London under contract by MITIE Cleaning Services are paid below the Londonliving wage and that the Historic Royal Palaces have failed to ensure the compliance of its contractor with the Greater London Authority rate of 8.30 per hour, which is designed to provide a minimum acceptable quality of life; further notes the Board of Trustees renewed the contract with MITIE on the proviso that rates of pay and numbers of operatives should not be varied without their approval; further notes that MITIE is an Associate Corporate Member of Historic Royal Palaces; is concerned that the cleaning operatives' conditions of employment do not meet the standards expected, the cleaning operatives do not have sufficient numbers and face excessive and constantly changing workloads, their requests for copies of their contracts of employment have been ignored, as have their request for contracts that will reflect their actual hours of work and holiday entitlements and requests for health and safety training and provision of personal protective equipment have gone unheeded; further notes with concern that cleaners lack facilities for changing and washing and that the efforts of the cleaner union IWGB to raise their members' concerns have been disregarded; and expects the cleaners to be treated with respect, paid fairly and employed in sufficient numbersto meet the demands of the Tower of London.