§ 5. Mr. Peter Luff (Mid-Worcestershire)What plans she has to control the activities of gangmasters in (a) horticulture and (b) food processing. [133785]
§ The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Margaret Beckett)My Department is working with organisations and businesses in the food chain to draw up a code of good practice and a system of accreditation for labour providers operating in those sectors. We are considering the recent report on the subject by the Select Committee on Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and the Government will reply in due course.
§ Mr. LuffDoes the Secretary of State agree with my calculation that up to seven Departments and, according to the Committee, eight agencies have an interest in the issue? Does she understand that many of us feel that the Government have not shown enough determination or urgency in joining up those seven Departments and eight agencies; and that by their failure they are undermining the work of good gangmasters, which leads to the loss of substantial 776 Government revenues and enables the continued exploitation of some of the most vulnerable people in our country?
§ Margaret BeckettI have great sympathy with the hon. Gentleman's concerns for those involved who are, as he says, vulnerable. He is right that a range of agencies as well as Departments are involved. However, I do not agree that insufficient work has been done. One can always improve and do better, but there has been much cross-departmental and cross-agency work, not least on Operation Gangmaster, as he knows. Several prosecutions have been undertaken and examples of exploitation—over-payment of benefit, tax avoidance and so on—have been addressed. Work is therefore being done, but I agree that we need to continue with it.
§ Mr. Mark Simmonds (Boston and Skegness)Will the Secretary of State acknowledge that there is a significant problem of rogue gangmasters in Lincolnshire and throughout the United Kingdom, admit that Operation Gangmaster has been a failure, with no budget, no aims, no goals and no objectives, and assure legitimate gangmasters that the Government will act and that a specific Minister will be responsible for eradicating the exploitation of vulnerable workers and stopping extensive benefit fraud and tax and VAT evasion?
§ Margaret BeckettFrankly, although that was a useful rant, it was not related to the facts. In the last year for which we have full information, the Department for Work and Pensions took enforcement action in 235 cases and made more than 1,000 adjustments to benefit. Inland Revenue specialist teams dealt with inquiries in the Thames valley that resulted in repayments worth approximately £4.3 million.
Action is being taken. Perhaps the hon. Gentleman does not know that we have been working with the industry to try to set a standard of best practice and draw up a code of practice. A pilot exercise will start in the next couple of months with a sample of labour providers and users in south Lincolnshire. There is great concern in the industry, and that is natural and understandable because people with high standards who treat their work force decently are being undercut by exploitation. However, it is not right and not fair to suggest that nothing is being done.
§ Mr. David Lidington (Aylesbury)Is not the right hon. Lady displaying shocking complacency about Operation Gangmaster? The recent report of the Select Committee on Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which has a majority of Labour Members, was agreed and concluded that Operation Gangmaster—a flagship initiative—had been running for five years with no targets and no Minister with responsibility for its actions and had carried out no significant analysis of the problems that it was set up to tackle. The Committee also concluded that Operation Gangmaster was a convenient reference point to enable Ministers to give the impression that the Government are doing far more about dealing with the problems than is the case.
Instead of saying that the Government will respond in due course to that damning, critical report, should not the right hon. Lady urgently introduce proposals to deal 777 with the failures that the Committee identified? Is she genuinely content with the indolence and inertia that has characterised the Government's response to date?
§ Margaret BeckettAnyone listening to that rant would believe that the problem was new. It has been going on for years and that is unsatisfactory. [Interruption.] There is no evidence that it is getting worse but it is persistent and the Government are determined to tackle it. In the past 18 months, there have been criminal prosecutions in 14 cases. Indeed, the prison sentences passed total 31 years. The hon. Gentleman should know, but perhaps he does not, that following the Grabiner report, the Government set up a working group on the informal economy. It will consider such issues and report to Treasury Ministers on their impact. Operation Gangmaster reports to the working group.
Of course, I am aware of the concerns that the Select Committee expressed. I understand Members' anxiety, but I do not wholly agree with their conclusions. However, we shall respond to them.