Arcadia and Debenhams: Business Support and Job Retention Debate

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Department: Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities

Arcadia and Debenhams: Business Support and Job Retention

Clive Efford Excerpts
Wednesday 2nd December 2020

(3 years, 4 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Paul Scully Portrait Paul Scully
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I thank my hon. Friend, and he is absolutely right. When people are bringing back their heavy bags—after a long evening’s shopping, hopefully, in the lead-up to Christmas—just a simple token like free parking or cheaper parking can really help drive footfall and support our local high streets.

Clive Efford Portrait Clive Efford (Eltham) (Lab) [V]
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Debenhams workers have expressed concern about the performance of the administrators. There has been a lack of communication and delays in registering redundancies with the redundancy payments service, which in turn has led to delayed payments to the workers themselves. What can the Minister do to ensure that the rights of workers are protected in these situations?

Paul Scully Portrait Paul Scully
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Clearly, as I have said, there are measures in place that govern the administrators, but we will keep on top of this. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has already written to the administrators to expedite the report. We will also follow up to make sure we keep an eye on them to support workers not only through the administrators and redundancy phase, but back into good work.