Clause 1 - Interpretation
Gangmasters (Licensing) Bill
2:45 pm
Mr Jim Sheridan (West Renfrewshire, Labour)
It might be appropriate if I explain the thinking behind the new clauses.
New clause 3 is a key element of the revised Bill. It defines the types of work to which the Bill will apply. The Bill is intended not to regulate each and every industry, but to regulate gangmasters in the sectors where they are most common and where the abuses by rogue gangmasters are the most extreme. Therefore, as amended, the Bill will cover all agricultural work and the gathering of shellfish. It also includes the processing or packaging of produce derived from those activities and the processing or packaging of fish.
As I understand it, the definition of agriculture is based on the definition in the Agricultural Wages Act 1948, with which many of us are familiar. New clause 3(4) defines shellfish in wide terms, and subsection (5) gives the Secretary of State the power to include or exclude work from the prescribed limits. Perhaps I should give my right hon. Friend the Minister the opportunity to elaborate, if he wishes to do so, on the way in which he might use that power and on the activities that he intends to include in the regulations.
New clause 5 is a straightforward provision that defines the territorial scope of the Bill. It will apply to the whole of the UK and to UK coastal waters, which extend six international nautical miles out to sea. The new clause is designed close any loopholes through which rogue gangmasters might try to escape by ensuring that the Bill applies to the supply of gang labour in the UK, even if the gangmaster is based outside it.
New clause 26 defines worker in the widest sense, because we must ensure that the Bill applies to all workers engaged by gangmasters. A worker is a worker is a worker, and no worker, indigenous or migrant, should be exploited. The clause will also extend the protection from exploitation to people who may be working illegally. The provision will be the key to ensuring that workers feel able to alert the authorities to any malpractice or breaches of the law on the part of their employers. That is crucial.