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10.53 pm
The Minister of State, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Ms Joyce Quin): I am grateful to my right hon. Friend the Member for Edinburgh, East and Musselburgh (Dr. Strang) for initiating this debate. We all recognise his enviably long record in campaigning for improvements in the working conditions and
remuneration of agricultural workers. He has taken an interest in those matters for longer than I have been in the House.The debate gives me a welcome opportunity to update the House on the review of the operation of the Agricultural Wages Board and the agricultural wages committees. The review obviously includes a review of statutory wage and other employment provisions that obtain in agriculture and horticulture. My right hon. Friend mentioned devolution. I am primarily concerned with the arrangements in England and Wales and my remarks should be interpreted in that context, but right hon. and hon. Members will wish to note that a parallel review of the separate agricultural minimum wage arrangements in Scotland is also being conducted.
I know that my right hon. Friend is familiar with the history of the Agricultural Wages Board, which has served us well over a long period. It was established in 1924 and has played an increasingly important role in setting minimum rates of pay and other terms and conditions for agricultural workers.
In the early days, the board, working with the agricultural wages committees, was responsible for fixing minimum rates of pay, overtime rates and the value of payments in kind. The power to fix holidays with pay came in 1938, and the power to introduce agricultural wages sick pay came as recently as 1967. In 1975, the board was given the power to fix other terms and conditions for employment for agricultural workers, and in 1999 we imported the better enforcement arrangement, which was provided under the National Minimum Wage Act 1998, into the agriculture system.
In looking at the current agricultural wages order, which came into force in England and Wales on 1 June, one can certainly recognise the wide range of issues covered by the board. Those include minimum basic and overtime rates for standard workers, flexible workers, casual workers and several categories of young workers. The order provides a career structure for the industry by setting higher minimum rates for workers with particular qualifications and for workers with special responsibilities. Those relate both to the farming side of the business and to staff management. Workers on stand-by duty, on a day when they do not normally work, or those doing night work, perhaps during lambing or other busy times of the year, are entitled to a prescribed minimum payment.
My right hon. Friend also mentioned the dog rate. When I first heard of that I wondered whether it was some minimum wage for dogs, but of course, as he said, it is a payment to agricultural workers who are required to keep working dogs, in recognition of the additional costs they must bear.
The current order deals with rest breaks; additional holiday days for workers who normally work overtime on a Sunday; holidays and other leave, including public holidays; the new service holiday; bereavement, paternity and adoption leave; and the payment of agriculture wages sick pay. Those arrangements help to ensure that agricultural workers are given fair terms and conditions of employment and are treated fairly by their employers. The arrangements recognise, too, that agricultural work is highly skilled, demanding and, as we know, frequently dangerous.
Since the election, this Government have made significant changes in the protection offered by general employment law. Those apply to all workers, including those covered by the agricultural wages order. The Government introduced the working time regulations, which place a limit on average weekly working hours and entitle workers to minimum rest periods and rest breaks and to paid annual leave.
A year later, we saw the introduction of the national minimum wage. There has also been legislation entitling workers to unpaid time off in certain circumstances, and dealing with part-time work. The result is that all workers are much better protected than they were when the Government came to power.
While ensuring that we protect employees, we have also sought in various ways not to over-regulate businesses--which is important in agriculture as well as in other sectors--and to look at issues of competitiveness. We know that some sectors of agriculture receive particular levels of subsidy from the European Union. Others, such as horticulture, pigs and poultry, have to compete freely, often against cheap imports from countries outside the EU.
However, a recognition of costs and the competitive factors never justifies exploitation, and it certainly does not justify any illegal activity such as the exploitation of illegal immigrant workers. I make that point because I know that there is interest in the House in some of the activities of gangmasters in the agricultural sector which have been discovered. The Government take those issues very seriously.
In May 1997, we began work on the issue, investigating gangmasters and their way of operating, and a year later we launched Operation Gangmaster as a way of joining up the enforcement activities of seven to eight agencies covering all aspects of employment law, taxation and benefits. We began that in a pilot area and we are now extending it to six other areas.
Mr. Alasdair Morgan (Galloway and Upper Nithsdale): The right hon. Member for Edinburgh, East and Musselburgh (Dr. Strang) said that the wage rates set by the Agricultural Wages Board were in excess of the minimum wage under the National Minimum Wage Act 1998. Yet in rural areas, average earnings are very much below average earnings in urban areas. Does that not make the case for the Agricultural Wages Board to be strengthened and for its role to be broadened rather than diminished?
Ms Quin: In the course of the review, we are considering various proposals, not just in relation to the board's core activities but in relation to related issues. There is at least some evidence that, in rural areas, the agricultural wages committees have the beneficial effect of setting an example to other employers. It is important to take that into account.
I pay tribute to the work done by the Agricultural Wages Board over the years. It has been well served by the generation of representative members, particularly those nominated by the Transport and General Workers Union, of which I am a member, by the National Farmers
Union, and by the independent members. I know that the members on the board have given a great deal of time and thought to the board's work.I also know that the board has been quick to acknowledge the recent changes in the general employment law, and that it has taken steps to ensure that there is no conflict between the wages order and the general law. In 1998 and 1999 it made two orders to keep abreast of the changes. This year, the board has brought the holiday provisions as closely into line with those in the working time regulations as possible under the board's current powers.
The Agricultural Wages Board, like all other non-departmental public bodies, is subject to regular quinquennial reviews. That gives us a chance to take a fresh look at all aspects of the policy and the operation of the current arrangements. I recognise that such reviews can be unsettling, but they have an important role to play in ensuring that Government policy meets current needs, and that the work of those important organisations is regularly reviewed.
Mr. Roy Beggs (East Antrim): Reference has been made to England, Wales and Scotland, but I am sure that the Minister will agree that the same provisions should apply to agricultural workers in Northern Ireland.
Ms Quin: Obviously, the principles that we are discussing are important in all parts of the United Kingdom, but I do not want in this debate to trespass on the responsibilities of our good colleague, Brid Rodgers, whom I was pleased to see return to her agriculture and rural affairs portfolio in Northern Ireland.
My right hon. Friend the Member for Edinburgh, East and Musselburgh made a number of comments to which it is important I respond. In general terms, the results of the consultation process are not wholly surprising. Obviously, the trade unions and representatives of agricultural workers strongly support retention of the board. The NFU has advocated its abolition, while some other employer organisations, and some individual employers have backed its retention, but some have put forward ideas for modifications to the current arrangements.
My right hon. Friend mentioned the views of the Farmers Union of Wales, which supports the board. On the other hand, the Horticultural Trades Association saw little need to retain it. The Country Landowners Association believes that it serves a useful purpose, although it and the Tenant Farmers Association made some proposals for change. That is a broad-brush account of the response, which contained a great deal of detail and is currently being considered thoroughly.
An independent research project also examined the impact of the current arrangements on employers and their workers. My right hon. Friend expressed some anxiety about that procedure, but that approach has been applied to at least one review of the Agricultural Wages Board, and to other normal quinquennial reviews. Again, I would not like to suggest that the approach to the review that we are considering was unique. The opposite is the case.
I understand the desire for an early announcement on the board's future. I recognise the strong belief of many
hon. Members of all parties in the work of the board. I know about the recent early-day motion tabled on the subject, which shows strong support from colleagues. However, we want to do the review process justice. I hope that my right hon. Friend and other hon. Members appreciate that the issues that the review raised mean considering a range of social, employment and competitiveness matters.I assure my right hon. Friend and other hon. Members that their points are being given due weight in the current deliberations. I hope to be able to announce the outcome of the review as soon as possible.
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