Clause 3 - Administration and enforcement
Gangmasters (Licensing) Bill
5:00 pm
Mr Alun Michael (Minister of State (Rural Affairs), Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; Cardiff South and Penarth, Labour/Co-operative)
In the first instance, the question appears simple. We want to make it as easy as possible for people to get things done, whether they are Members of Parliament or members of the public. A member of the public will not ask under which piece of legislation he is making an inquiry; he will have a problem that he wants to draw to somebody's attention and will want to know how to do it. At a recent meeting, in response to a question from my hon. Friend, I undertook to consider how we can ensure that there is one point to which people can go for information on licensing and other gangmaster issues. I repeat that undertaking.
If there is a bit of a problem with the way in which a licence is working, my hon. Friend should come to me or to another DEFRA Minister. However, when it comes to enforcement issues and trying to catch villains, we shall ensure that the way the Bill is stitched in allows people to get to the right place without having to make half a dozen inquiries.
It is also important that agencies with good reasons for wanting answers should be able to find out pretty quickly whether somebody is a legitimate gangmaster, just as the police can now check a car registration number immediately, rather than having to send off a form and wait three weeks. We shall consider how to deal with that, too.
The hon. Member for Boston and Skegness raised the matter of the ability of individuals to prove their identity. That is very relevant if there is a question about which individuals are authorised to work in this country. Work is under way in a number of Departments, under a Home Office lead, to establish a simple system to deal with authorisation to work. That ties in with proof of identity and proof of authority, which will be necessary if the system is to work. I am going beyond the detail that needs to be in the Bill, but I assure the hon. Gentleman that the matter is on the agenda and being addressed.
Finally, there are matters on which the detail in the Bill should not pre-empt decisions that might be made by the agency's board—or the shadow board, which we want to establish as soon as possible—as we want to use the knowledge of the industry. We are doing that by consulting with the consortium and with the Association of Labour Providers. Much of that has to be an iterative process. I do not think that there is any disagreement over the practicalities that need to be dealt with.
I hope that with those assurances, and the offer to go into any further detail that hon. Members wish, the Committee will agree to the measures proposed.
Question put and negatived.
Clause 3 disagreed to.Clause 4Obligations of principals