Government agrees to meet hospitality minister petitioners

Business minister Paul Scully will meet with petitioners calling for a minister for hospitality.

The meeting was agreed after chair of the petitions committee, Catherine McKinnell, wrote to prime minister Boris Johnson urging him to engage with the hospitality sector after raising the issue at the latest session of the liaison committee.

A debate on this petition, which was signed by more than 208,000 people, was held last month, where members across the House called for a dedicated minister for the sector.

Scully is now expected to meet with petitioners, including publisher Claire Bosi, chefs Tom Kerridge and Angela Hartnett, and hotelier Robin Hutson.

Catherine McKinnell said: “While I welcome the prime minister’s decision to agree to our call for the government to meet with petitioners and hear their concerns about the need for greater support for the hospitality sector, I hope the prime minister himself will consider their request he creates a minister for hospitality to oversee government delivery for this crucial diverse sector.”

Catherine McKinnell highlighted hospitality was caught between “two crowded departments” – the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport – that “creates an incentive for passing the buck between departments, which reinforces the case for a minister for hospitality”.