Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many gangmasters have been prosecuted for offences created by the Gangmasters (Licensing) Act 2004 in 2014 to date; and what the results were of those prosecutions.

To date in 2014, a total of 15 people have been charged with, or summons in relation to, a section 12 offence for acting as a gangmaster without a licence.

Of these, only one case has been concluded and resulted in a conviction. The individual received a £500 fine and was ordered to pay £46 costs and a £15 offender’s levy. The other cases are still progressing through the legal system.

A further case was concluded in 2014 of a section 12 offence by an individual whose prosecution started in 2013. The result of this prosecution was a Community Payback Order for 180 hours to be completed within a nine month period.

GLA enforcement activity has also resulted in charges for a range of other offences, for example trafficking and fraud, during 2014. Over time the GLA has undertaken a reduced number of more complex investigations which focus more effectively on serious and organised crime. This reflects a targeting and risk-based enforcement approach by the GLA.