Flybe

Stephen Timms Excerpts

Thursday 5th March 2020 Commons Chamber

[Stephen Timms (East Ham) (Lab)]

The GMB trade union estimates that 1,400 supply chain jobs are at risk, as well as the 2,000 Flybe jobs. I welcome the support that the hon. Lady has mentioned from the Department for Work and Pensions. Will that be extended to supply chain employees, and will lessons be learned from the problems that some former Thomas Cook employees faced at jobcentres after that collapse? The Flybe overseas pension scheme is based in the Isle of Man, so members do not have access to the Pension Protection Fund. Can she offer any reassurance to members about the future of their pensions?

[Kelly Tolhurst]

As the right hon. Gentleman will appreciate, we are working across Government—across the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and with colleagues in the Department for Work and Pensions—on the response to the collapse of Flybe, to make sure that all the issues and troubles, particularly for staff, are addressed and that we are able to respond. I am happy to give him more updates at our briefing later in relation to specific, detailed questions on some of the issues that he raises. We stand ready to make sure that we deliver for individuals who have been made redundant. We also learned a lot from Thomas Cook’s collapse, but I remind him that this is not at the same level as it was with Thomas Cook.