Barbara Keeley MP, Labour’s Shadow Cabinet Minister for Social Care, commenting on the
issue of back pay for sleep-in shifts by care staff, said:

“There has still been
no resolution on the issue of care workers receiving back pay for
sleep-in shifts.

“The Tory Government’s
lack of action is causing great uncertainty for our social care
workforce. Tory Ministers need to ensure that care workers receive the money
they have rightfully earned. Anything less would undermine the very
principle of a statutory minimum wage and could encourage providers to
plead poverty to get out of their duty to pay their care workforce properly.

“Good pay
and conditions are essential to delivering good quality care for service
users. This Tory Government needs to stop burying its head in the sand about the
problems they have caused in social care and put the funding of social
care on a long-term sustainable footing.“

Nia Griffith MP, Labour’s Shadow
Defence Secretary, responding
to the publication of the National Shipbuilding Strategy, said:

“I welcome the publication of the
National Shipbuilding Strategy and the commitment to the long-term future for
our shipbuilding industry. But as well as investing in our naval fleet, we must
also invest in the men and women who serve in our Royal Navy.

“Despite warnings over many years,
our Navy is facing a crisis in recruitment and retention. The Government is on
course to miss its own target for the size of the Navy and we simply do not
have enough sailors to crew our naval fleet.

“Experienced personnel are leaving
the Navy because of dissatisfaction with pay and conditions. If the Government
was serious about properly resourcing our Royal Navy it would lift the public
sector pay cap and pay our servicemen and women properly.”

Tracy
Brabin MP, Labour’s Shadow Early Years Minister,
commenting on the NAHT report on school readiness, said:

“This
report should make sobering reading for Tory ministers. It is yet more evidence
of a problem that has worsened on their watch. It is now incumbent on the
government to ensure their spending on childcare goes towards high quality
early years education, supporting children to get the best start in life.

“By
contrast, the Tories’ chronically underfunded 30-free hour childcare offer has
not only left too many parents not receiving the free care they were promised
but has seen many of the most experienced and highest-rated providers walk
away from the sector entirely. Ministers should take their concerns seriously
before the childcare sector reaches a crisis point.

“A
Labour government would provide genuinely free and high-quality childcare, with
all parents of 2-4 year olds entitled to 30 hours, and the investment needed to
deliver it in practice. We would also reverse the Tory cuts to Sure Start,
which the evidence showed was a highly effective programme in supporting
children to be school ready.”

John McDonnell MP, Labour’s Shadow Chancellor, commenting on the
Interim Report of the IPPR Commission on Economic Justice, said:

“The Commission’s findings drive home the deep problems of the
British economy, which have been gravely worsened by seven years of Tory
failure that has seen average wages fall and debt rise.

“The Tories have given huge tax breaks to the super-rich and giant
corporations, but failed to deliver the investment in infrastructure, skills
and research and development that are needed to create the secure, high-wage
jobs of the future. As the report shows, the result is an economy dominated by
insecurity and falling living standards.

“The Commission’s interim report is yet more evidence in support
of Labour’s transformational economic programme, with high investment across
the whole country supporting an industrial strategy and a wider spread of asset
ownership to build an economy that works for the many, not the few. I welcome
the Commission’s work and I look forward to seeing the final report.”

Jonathan
Ashworth, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, responding to a pay protest by NHS staff at
Parliament today (Wednesday 6 September 2017), said:

“NHS
staff are long overdue a pay rise which matches the compassion and dedication
which they bring to their working lives. The Tory Government has taken NHS
staff for granted for years and the result is staffing shortages across the
health service and ever longer waits for patients.

“72 per cent of the public now
think that there are too few nurses to provide safe care to patients. This is
totally unsustainable. The Government’s public sector pay cap has created a
workforce crisis in the NHS which is driving trust deficits and causing misery
for patients.

“Some
Tories are hinting the cap will eventually be lifted but they voted
against Labour’s amendment to lift the pay cap earlier in the summer. It’s
simply not good enough. Nurses, midwives and paramedics should be valued and
rewarded for the brilliant work that they do and the Government must make their
plans on NHS pay clear now, before it is too late.”