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Written Ministerial Statements

Tuesday 14 March 2006

DEFENCE

Fusilier Gordon Gentle

The Secretary of State for Defence (John Reid): The Army's Board of Inquiry (BOI) into the death of Fusilier Gordon Gentle in Basra, Iraq, on 28 June 2004 has been presented to his family today. Fusilier Gentle, of C Company, 1st Battalion, the Royal Highland Fusiliers (1 RHF), was killed when the vehicle he was travelling in was attacked with an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) while he performed routine escort duty.

All 12 recommendations made by the Board of Inquiry have been accepted, and the majority of improvements have already been implemented. The BOI found that:

The training provided by 1 RHF, both prior to deployment and in theatre, was appropriate and sufficient for its tasks. In the opinion of the board, the Battalion should be commended for the quality of its training and conduct of operations;

Fusilier Gentle's training was adequate to enable him to conduct his specific duties, and he had gained experience of his task as top cover sentry over the 4 weeks prior to the incident;

Fusilier Gentle was wearing the appropriate body armour, which was penetrated by fragments from the IED. It was accepted that full protection from a close quarter explosion cannot realistically be provided by lightweight body armour; the BOI recommended, however, that body armour should be enhanced with extensions to protect the neck and armpit area. Body armour with these modifications has since been made available to British troops;

Electronic Counter Measure (ECM) equipment was fitted and working correctly, but was ineffective against the device detonated. Additional ECM equipment was available but had not yet been fitted. The board recommended that where units were tasked with collecting equipment for issue, a series of triggers must be implemented to prompt the supply chain collected promptly. Significant modifications to the supply chain in theatre have since been instigated;

There was no delay to the military medical response;

The use of SNATCH land rovers was appropriate to the threat and task. Although it did not prevent the grievous injuries to Fusilier Gentle, it prevented significant further injury to other personnel in the vehicle. The vehicle was, however, penetrated in a number of places and investigations into increasing protection in certain areas should be carried out and options for greater protection for top cover sentries explored. The Ministry of Defence is currently addressing this with a project to upgrade the current SNATCH fleet;

1 RHF implemented sensible measures to mitigate the predictability in timings and routes for the task in hand;

The convoy task on the day of the incident was conducted correctly and the use of top cover sentries was appropriate;

Communications provided to the patrol were sufficient.

The loss of Fusilier Gentle is devastating for all who knew him, and I extend my deepest sympathies to his family, friends and colleagues. The death of any member
 
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of the Armed Forces is a tragedy—the safety of our personnel is and must remain paramount and every possible precaution is taken to protect them.

I have today placed a redacted version of the opinions, findings and recommendations of the Board of Inquiry in the Library of the House.

ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Gangmasters (Licensing)

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Jim Knight): My noble Friend, Lord Bach, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State made the following written ministerial yesterday.

"I am pleased to be able to inform the House that regulations have been laid today confirming scope of the new gangmaster licensing arrangements. Licensing will apply to gangmasters who supply labour to all parts of the farming and food processing industries. This will protect some 600,000 workers from exploitation and will protect the interests of legitimate labour providers struggling to compete against businesses operating illegally. With the completion of this element of the regulatory framework, the Gangmasters Licensing Authority can commence licensing operations on 6 April.

The Gangmasters Licensing (Exclusions) Regulations 2006 fix the boundaries for the new licensing scheme by specifying circumstances in which a person, who is acting as a gangmaster, does not need a licence. These include the supply of labour to retail, catering, wholesale and distribution establishments, short term loans of workers between farmers, the supply of workers by agricultural contractors to operate machinery they provide, the supply of individual specialist farm workers. The supply of labour to process and pack non agricultural products including an agricultural component, such as cosmetics, is also excluded. Together these provisions will provide maximum protection of workers through robust licensing arrangements, whilst giving farmers the flexibility they need to manage the deployment of labour on a day to day basis.

The introduction of licensing in relation to shellfish gathering is dealt with separately in the regulations. The very valuable work done by the Ethical Trading Initiative Temporary Labour Working Group to develop a voluntary code of practice, has helped ensure the early introduction of licensing for labour providers operating in the farming and fresh produce supply chain. However, more time is needed to finalise the licensing arrangements to apply to shellfish' gathering. This work is in hand. But it is important to ensure that the protections offered by the licensing scheme are extended to cover shellfish gathering at the earliest opportunity. For this reason the regulations make it clear that licensing will apply to the supply and use of labour to hand gather shellfish, from 1 October 2006.

The Gangmasters (Appeals) Regulations 2006 establish an appeals procedure for gangmasters who are refused a licence or have their licence withdrawn. Appeals will be heard by an independent person appointed by the Secretary of State from the panel of employment tribunal chairmen. DEFRA staff will provide secretariat support for the appeals process. The regulations will ensure that appeals are dealt with justly and that the parties are placed on an equal footing.

These regulations cover England, Scotland and Wales. Separate regulations will apply in Northern Ireland.

The final element of the regulatory framework is the Gangmasters (Licensing Conditions) Rules 2006. These have been made by the Gangmasters Licensing Authority. They set out the conditions attached to a licence and the fees to be charged. The rules must be read in conjunction with the Authority's Licensing Standards which are also being published today. In the first year, licence fees will range from £250 for the smallest businesses to £4,000 for the largest. Where a business has, in the opinion of the

 
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Authority, successfully addressed issues raised in a Temporary Labour Working Group audit, the fee for early applicants will be reduced by £250. Where a business has not been audited against the Temporary Labour Working Group code and an application inspection is necessary, an additional one off fee ranging from £1,600 to £2,500 will be charged.

There are a number of further steps that need to be taken over the coming months to finalise the licensing arrangements. If the application process goes smoothly, we plan to make it an offence for a gangmaster to operate without a licence with effect from 1 October 2006. At the same time regulations will be made setting out the steps that a labour user will need to take to ensure a gangmaster he or she engages has a licence. It is anticipated that it will become an offence for a labour user to use an unlicensed gangmaster in December. We expect that the labour provider and labour user offences will be introduced in the shellfish gathering sector from April 2007.

Together these regulations and rules will provide a high degree of protection for workers. They will also help protect the interests of law abiding labour providers and will help protect Exchequer interests by promoting employment of legitimate workers. These objectives have been achieved without placing unreasonable regulatory, administrative or economic burdens on the businesses involved. However, many of the businesses affected by the new licensing arrangements will be small businesses and we do need to ensure that the burdens on these businesses are proportionate to the risks involved. DEFRA will therefore conduct a post implementation review, a year after licensing comes into effect.

We have come a long way since the House first considered the Gangmasters Licensing Bill in 2004. This Bill, which was introduced by the member for West Renfrewshire, enjoyed cross party support. The Bill also had the support of a strong coalition of stakeholders including the trade unions, farmers, supermarkets, the churches and a number of other organisations interested in the well being and welfare of gang workers. I am pleased to say this coalition is still active and that it played an important part in the recent debate on the scope of the exclusion regulations. Coalition members have sought to ensure that the gangmaster licensing arrangements are robust, credible and effective. The regulations tabled today deliver all these objectives".

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