§ Mr. OatenTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many illegal workers have been discovered working in construction since the introduction of the Construction Industry Scheme. [178015]
§ Mr. Browne[holding answer 14 June 2004]: Information on the numbers of illegal workers detected during visits to construction sites is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. However, the Immigration Service uses an intelligence-led approach to detecting illegal workers and operations take place in the construction industry as and when appropriate.
§ Mrs. Curtis-ThomasTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the work of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate in countering illegal working. [177867]
§ Mr. BrowneThe Government announced on 16 March 2004 that changes would be made to section 8 of the Asylum and Immigration Act 1996, which prohibits the employment of illegal migrant workers. The new arrangements improve the security of the checks employers must carry out to avoid hiring illegal workers. These changes came into force on 1 May 2004 and form part of our continuing strategy to improve the way we tackle illegal working through tightening the legislation, improving its enforcement, engaging employer groups, stakeholders and other Government Departments.
In addition, we have included an amendment to the current Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants etc) Bill to make the current section 8 offence 1372W triable either way, effectively removing the statutory limit on financial penalties the courts can impose in the more serious cases. The Government are also strongly supporting the Bill introduced by my hon. Friend the Member for West Renfrewshire (Jim Sheridan), which will create a statutory licensing system for gangmasters. The Bill's objective is to drive out rogue operators and illegality from the agricultural labour provision sector altogether, by ensuring that farmers and food retailers use only reputable operators who comply with an industry code of practice, and by providing strong criminal sanctions against unlicensed gangmasters.
The Immigration Service has also significantly increased intelligence-led enforcement action, with the police and other public bodies, against those employers and labour providers who use and supply illegal labour, including where such individuals have links to organised crime.