Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which service providers are contracted to carry out third party cleaning contracts for his (a) Department and (b) executive agencies; if he will list all of the services delivered by third party contractors to his (i) Department and (ii) executive agencies; and how many people working for those third party contractors are paid less than the Living Wage as defined by the Living Wage Foundation.

The service providers contracted to carry out third party cleaning contracts for Defra managed buildings, including those of our executive agencies, are provided through an outsourced Total Facilities Management contract with Interserve FM. Interserve FM holds information on the rate of remuneration of its staff, however the contract requires Interserve FM to pay all employees the living wage as defined by the Living Wage Foundation.

The Living Wage Foundation rates can be found at the Living Wage Foundation website (https://www.livingwage.org.uk/). There is a rate for London based staff and a rate for staff based outside of London.

The Total Facilities Management contract covers all building and ground maintenance, cleaning and security services for the Defra managed estate, therefore all third party contracts delivered under the contract are covered by the Living Wage Foundation commitment.

A list of all services delivered by third party contractors and the associated wage information is not held centrally and to obtain it would incur disproportionate costs.