Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what discussions she has had with (a) Unite, (b) Birmingham City Council and (c) ACAS to encourage parties to reach a negotiated settlement on the ongoing waste dispute in Birmingham.

The Secretary of State has engaged with Unite and Birmingham City Council to encourage them to get back around the negotiating table. She has not met with ACAS and the Department has not met with Unite. Any talks to settle the equal pay dispute are solely between the employer (Birmingham City Council) and trade union (Unite).

The decision to allow a small number of military personnel to provide office based operational planning expertise for a short, time limited period to support the council with making sure its response to the ongoing public health risk is as swift as possible was taken in the first week of the major incident, and they were able to add value in that time which was appreciated by the council and the Department.