By Matthew Legg Business editor

Last updated at 12:27, Friday, 18 May 2012

A total of 44 bids to take over doomed Remploy factories for the disabled have been submitted to the Government.

The Coalition announced in March that it intends to shut 36 of the plants, including the one at Cleator Moor, because they are uneconomical.

Ministers asked for anyone interested in taking over any of the sites to submit an expression of interest and so far, 44 have.

The Government has not revealed if a bid has been lodged to take over the Cleator Moor factory, which makes specialist protective suits for the police and military.

Staff had prepared a bid to take over the business before the closure announcement in March, but Minister for the Disabled Maria Miller had refused to listen to it, according to Copeland MP Jamie Reed.

In a statement this morning the Government confirmed that redundancy consultations were continuing with the Remploy workforce.

A total of 1,752 people will be made compulsorily redundant, of whom 1,518 are disabled.

The statements said: “Formal consultation is continuing with the trade unions and other employee representatives.

“The consultation, which started on March 19 and will run for a minimum of 90 days, is aimed at mitigating the number of redundancies.

“During the consultation process, Remploy is conducting business as usual whilst providing information to organisations which have expressed a commercial interest in any of the factory businesses proposed for closure.”

First published at 11:26, Friday, 18 May 2012
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk