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Gangmasters

Answer

The Gangmasters Licensing (Exclusions) Regulations 2006 (the exclusions regulations) fine tune the scope of the gangmasters’ licensing arrangements by specifying the circumstances where a person does not need to obtain a gangmasters’ licence. These include the supply of workers to work in the retail, wholesale and catering sectors, the supply of workers to undertake a limited range of agricultural activities, and the supply of workers to process and package non-food items which contain an agricultural ingredient. I can confirm that no specific provision has been made to exclude from the licensing requirement an agricultural contractor who supplies relief milkers. Paragraph 8 of the schedule to the exclusions regulations does make provision for the exclusion of a service provider who uses a worker to provide a machinery service to a farmer. However, to qualify for this exclusion, the worker used must operate machinery owned or hired by the service provider. In the case of a relief milking service, it is unlikely that the service provider would qualify for an exemption as in most cases the milking machinery will be owned or leased by the farmer and not by the service provider. It is possible that an agency supplying relief milkers may qualify for exclusion from the licensing requirements through the provisions relating tothe supply of specialist agricultural workers at paragraph 13 of the exclusions regulations. However, to qualify for this exemption, the worker supplied by the agency is required to hold a level 2 National or Scottish National Vocational Qualification which is relevant to the work in question. Furthermore, the worker must be supplied by the agency for employment by the farmer, and on the day the supply of the relief milker is made, the agency cannot supply any other workers to that farmer. Defra will be reviewing the operation of the Gangmaster Licensing (Exclusions) Regulations 2006 one year after the introduction of licensing. We will ensure that the industry is fully consulted when the review is undertaken.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

7980; 686 c86-7WA

Session

2005-06

Subjects

Dairy farming Licensing Exemptions Gangmasters Equipment Milk Temporary employment

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk