Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if she will hold discussions with (a) FRP Advisory and (b) The Body Shop International Limited on alleged procedural errors in recent redundancy processes.

My officials at the Insolvency Service’s Redundancy Payments Service have been working with the administrators from FRP Advisory to ensure that employee redundancy claims can be paid as soon as possible. If employee consultation requirements in relation to redundancies have not been met, their representative may make a complaint to an Employment Tribunal. If the complaint is upheld, the Tribunal has discretionary power to make a Protective Award in compensation to the affected employees.

Administrators are licenced by a regulatory body, which would be responsible for investigating any matters relating to their conduct as officeholders. The Insolvency Service will review complaints about the conduct of the company’s directors to assess whether further investigation would be appropriate.