Government backs licensing of gangmasters

A proposal for the statutory registration and licensing of gangmasters is making rapid progress through parliament with new-found support from the government.

Until very recently, the government has been unwilling, or unable, to get to grips with the issues involved. In some cases, gangmasters, who supply and pay groups of agricultural labourers, fail to comply with the most basic health, safety and welfare requirements of their workers. This was tragically demonstrated on the night of 5 February 2004, when 23 Chinese cockle-pickers are thought to have drowned in Morecambe Bay (21 bodies have been recovered, two remain missing).

The government was severely criticised by a House of Commons select committee in September 2003, which said it had "no clear understanding of the gangmaster sector, let alone of the scale and scope of illegal activity". Since then, policy on gangmasters has been driven by outside events (HSB 327). In early January 2004, Labour MP Jim Sheridan introduced a private members Bill into the House of Commons to require gangmasters to be registered and licensed. The government's initial response to the Bill was ambivalent, but changed to one of support following the deaths of the cockle-pickers. As a result, the Gangmasters (Licensing) Bill¹ passed through its third reading in the House of Commons in mid-May 2004, and has now started its passage through the House of Lords.

In its 2003 report on gangmasters, the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee concluded that enforcement of existing legislation was "perfunctory and uncoordinated", that insufficient political priority was given to dealing with the issue, and that inadequate resources had been allocated to it.

In a follow-up report², published in May 2004, the committee said that, other than issuing a tender for one piece of limited research, the government had made no progress. It repeats its previous observation: "The government cannot develop an appropriate policy response to a problem, or allocate appropriate resources, if it cannot make even a rough estimate of the scale of that problem."

Although the committee did not support statutory registration at the outset, it has also changed its position. Its first report said that a scheme would not offer a standalone solution to the problems of illegal gangmasters - action to improve enforcement was also needed. In its follow-up report, the committee says it now believes that licensing and registration are needed to deal with the problem. It supports Sheridan's Bill, and calls on the government to ensure that time is made available for its successful passage through parliament.

The Committee concludes that, like the government, it cannot say how serious the problem of illegitimate gangmasters exploiting workers, and defrauding the government, is. But it says that anecdotal and media reports suggest that there are large numbers of gangmasters operating illegally in Britain, and that many thousands of people are employed by them. The committee says that such a disgraceful situation demands a "robust and concerted response", and that greater urgency and effort across government is needed, together with the Bill, to ensure that illegality and exploitation by gangmasters is curtailed.

The committee is still concerned about two aspects of the Bill: for it to be fully effective, the government must introduce a considerable volume of secondary legislation, for which there is no defined timetable; and the government needs to set out how gangmasters and their employees can be identified when working.

¹ www.publications.parliament.uk.

² "Gangmasters (follow up): eighth report of session 2003-2004", HC 455, Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, ISBN 0 215 01725 0 The Stationery Office, £15.50 or visit www.parliament.uk/parliamentary_committees/environment__food_and_rural_affairs.cfm, free.