Kwasi Kwarteng, the newly appointed Secretary of State at the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, has written an open letter to the UK construction industry on his first day in his role.
The new business secretary thanks everyone working within the construction and manufacturing industry across the UK in his letter. He states ‘It is vital that manufacturing continues and I want to reassure you that the Government values the contribution your sector is making’.
With the most recent lockdown differing slightly to the ones before, there has been some concerns regarding keeping construction sites open. The higher number of cases being higher than during the March lockdown was a main point along with the closure of schools. The need to homeschool has caused issues for parents with full time jobs.
Kwarteng assures that ‘my Ministerial team and I are in regular contact with industry leaders about the risks, issues and challenges you face’.
An operations director for multiple projects across Manchester states ‘construction is about finding a solution and that’s what we have all done’. He believes ‘it is held up as a beacon that the construction sector will find a safe method of working, train people up and put in place the correct measures – we will just get on with it’.
The new business secretary also tweeted ‘big thank you to Britain’s manufacturers for keeping our country on the move’, acknowledging the tireless work ‘ from food and pharmaceuticals to vital chemicals and vaccines, you’re all playing a critical role in our fight against Covid-19’.
