Edward Davey MP
Minister of State
Department for Business, Innovation & Skills
1 Victoria Street
London SW1H 0ET

3 June 2010

Dear Edward,

Telegen - Brighton call centre in administration

I am writing to you following the closure of Telegen, a call-centre business in my constituency which recently went into administration making 300 people redundant.

Telegen do not appear to have treated their workers responsibly.

Telegen directors issued a statement saying "Telegen will do everything it can to minimise the impact on clients, customers and employees" yet employees were given no prior warning the company was in trouble and turned up to work only to be made immediately redundant with pay owed.

There are also reports that Telegen recently recruited workers, when they must have known that the company was in dire trouble and workers might be left without pay.

Directors of Telegen cited the practice of offshoring by some of their competitors as one of the reasons for their demise.

I would be interested to know what current assessment the Government has of the impact of offshoring on local communities with high levels of employment in the call-centre sector.

Specifically, is the Government considering the introduction of disincentives for companies to relocate abroad to help protect jobs such as those lost at Telegen?

On the issue of corporate social responsibility (CSR), does the Government have plans to hold companies to account for the claims they make in terms of CSR?

This is a key issue in terms of offshoring and subsequent avoidance of the UK's high workers rights and environmental standards.

Whilst I am aware that the South East England Regional Development Agency, SEEDA, will be working with Job Centre Plus to put together a support package to help the workers find alternative employment, I am concerned that immediate financial assistance from the state needs to be in place for employees who need it.

Workers have not been paid by Telegen for work they have already done and those eligible for redundancy pay may have to wait several weeks for their payments.

Is your department liaising with the Department for Work and Pensions to ensure that people are not left in financial crisis as a result of immediate redundancy?

I look forward to your reply,

Yours sincerely,

CAROLINE LUCAS
MP for Brighton Pavilion