House of Commons - Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Select Committee on Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Eighth Report

1 Introduction

1. In March 2003 we announced that we would undertake an inquiry into the illegal activities of some gangmasters providing labour to the agricultural and horticultural industries.[1] Our inquiry was prompted in part by longstanding concerns about illegality in the sector, and by anecdotal evidence that abuses were increasing. We took oral evidence on the subject in May and June 2003, and published our report in September 2003.[2]

2. Our findings were stark. We expressed our disappointment that the Government had no clear understanding of the gangmaster sector, let alone of the scale and scope of illegal activity. We concluded that the Government had failed to confront the problems of the industry. Enforcement of existing legislation was "perfunctory and uncoordinated".[3] We observed that there was insufficient political priority given to dealing with the issue, and that inadequate resources had been allocated to it. We also concluded that relationships between supermarkets and their suppliers were significant contributory factors to the problem.

3. We made a number of recommendations for change. In particular we called on supermarkets to ensure that they did all they could to address the issue, and welcomed the review by the Office of Fair Trading of the Code of Practice between supermarkets and their suppliers.[4] Our principal recommendations to the Government were that it:

Commission a detailed study, to be published by March 2004, of the use of casual labour in the agricultural and horticultural industries;
Appoint a Defra Minister to take overall responsibility for Operation Gangmaster, allocate a single budget to it, and collect information about its work; and
Set up an inter-departmental working group reporting to a Defra Minister to address the problem of illegal activity by agricultural gangmasters in particular.[5]

The Government response

4. The Government replied to our report on 8 December 2003.[6] It accepted many of the points we made. In response to our principal recommendations, the Government:

Accepted that there was need for further research, although it argued that this was best directed to finding out how many casual workers are employed in off-farm packhouses, packing horticultural products;
Agreed that a single Minister should take responsibility for Operation Gangmaster, but that this should be a Department for Work and Pensions Minister, and noted that an 'evaluation' of Operation Gangmaster was planned; and
Set up a Gangmaster Coordination Group, chaired by a Defra official and answering to a Defra Minister, to ensure "proper coordination of both enforcement operations and policy development relevant to agricultural gangmasters".[7]

Subsequent developments

The Gangmasters (Licensing) Bill

5. On 7 January 2004 Jim Sheridan MP introduced the Gangmasters (Licensing) Bill in the House of Commons.[8] The Bill as presented, which was taken on from work carried out by the Transport and General Workers' Union, required gangmasters to obtain a licence, which is subject to certain conditions, and to be entered on a public register. It also created offences of acting as, or engaging the services of, an unlicensed gangmaster.[9] The Bill was given a second reading on 27 February 2004.

Main provisions of the Gangmasters (Licensing) Bill (as printed prior to Second Reading):

(1) to define the meaning of "gangmaster";

(2) to require gangmasters to obtain a licence and be entered onto a public register;

(3) to make it a criminal offence for a gangmaster to engage in licensable conduct without a licence or to breach the conditions of the licence, and, for this purpose to make it compulsory conditions of each licence that:

(a) a gangmaster will not withhold personal documents from gang workers;

(b) a gangmaster will provide personal identity to their agents/workers;

(c) a gangmaster (or their worker or agent) will to show their licence or identity to users of
gangmasters on demand;

(d) a gangmaster will keep records relating to his activities as a gangmasters for a period of 5 years
from the date of that conduct;

(4) to make it a criminal offence for users of gangmasters to engage an unlicensed gangmaster (subject to a defence);

(5) to require the Secretary of State to set up a scheme of licensing and enforcement

Morecambe Bay

6. On the evening of Thursday 5 February thirty-five cockle-pickers were trapped by the tide in Morecambe Bay. Despite rescue attempts, twenty subsequently drowned. Although the full facts of the case are not yet known, and the incident remains the subject of a police inquiry, there was immediate suspicion that those involved were ganged labour, and that they were illegal immigrants from China. That brought the issue of gangmasters to the top of the political agenda: in the aftermath of the incident the Home Secretary said that "we will want to back Jim Sheridan's Bill in relation to gangmasters and I hope we can move forward on that very quickly".[10]

Our inquiry

7. When we published our original report in September 2003 we announced that we would return to the matter "in Spring 2004" to examine progress made.[11] Soon after the tragedy in Morecambe Bay we decided that the time was right to follow up our previous work. On 12 February 2004 we announced our decision, inviting written evidence, and saying that we would take oral evidence from Government Ministers in March.[12]

8. We received nine memoranda in response to our invitation.[13] We subsequently heard oral evidence from the Transport and General Workers' Union, Jim Sheridan MP, and Geraldine Smith MP, whose constituency covers part of Morecambe Bay; the Association of Chief Police Officers; Mr Zad Padda, a legitimate labour provider; Lord Whitty, the Minister for Food and Farming at Defra; and Beverley Hughes MP, then Immigration Minister at the Home Office, and Chris Pond MP, a Department for Work and Pensions Minister. We are most grateful to all those who helped us with our inquiry.

1 Press Notice, 17 March 2003 Back

2 Gangmasters, Fourteenth Report of Session 2002-03, HC 691 Back

3 HC (2002-03) 691, Summary Back

4 HC (2002-03) 691, paras.25 ff Back

5 HC (2002-03) 691, paras.20, 47 and 78. Back

6 Gangmasters: Government Reply to the Committee's Report, First Special Report of Session 2003-04, HC122 Back

7 HC (2003-04) 122, p.13 Back

8 Votes and Proceedings, 7 January 2004 Back

9 Explanatory notes, Bill 17-EN Back

10 Quoted in TUC Risks, No.143, 14 February; see www.tuc.org.uk/risks Back

11 Press Notice, 18 September 2003 Back

12 Gangmasters: Committee to follow up its report, Press Notice, 12 February 2004 Back