Multi-agency taskforce in Leicester

Freedom of Information Act Request

Ref: FOI 21-22 08

Date issued: 26 August 2021

Subject: Multi-agency taskforce in Leicester

Question(s):

Since the multi-agency Taskforce led by the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA) was launched in Leicester in July 2020 to respond to allegations of labour market abuses:

1)      Please state the number of cases of underpayment of national minimum wage have been identified by the taskforce? What action was taken?

2)      Please state the number of cases (workers impacted and the number of businesses implicated) of modern slavery identified by the taskforce? What action was taken? 

3)      Please state the number of cases of health and safety breaches identified by the taskforce? What action was taken?

4)      Please state the number of cases of illegal working identified? What action was taken?

5)      Please state the annual budget/spending for the taskforce in July 2020 to July 2021?

Response:

1.     The GLAA does not hold this complete data, as underpayment of national minimum wage is dealt with by the HMRC National Minimum Wage team. As such, you may wish to send a Freedom of Information to them at foi.request@hmrc.gov.uk.

2.     To date there have been three allegations of modern slavery identified; two have been investigated and whilst modern slavery was not identified the investigations are still ongoing. The third is a new allegation.

3.     The GLAA does not hold this data, as it is held by Health and Safety Executive (HSE). However, as a result of similar request to HSE they have released the following stats: “As of 16 July HSE have carried out 94 inspections and 25 complaint follow up visits to textile factories in the Leicester Unitary area. These figures do not include COVID spot checks that have also been carried out.” From this similar request to HSE they also shared that “There have not been any prosecutions or cautions as a result of work with Op Tacit. Any contraventions of health and safety legislation identified were remedied through proportionate use of powers such as advice, written notification or formal Notices in accordance with the HSE - Enforcement Policy Statement. Out of the visits mentioned above, 13 Notices were served, 21 duty holders received Notification of Contravention letters and 28 received verbal advice for minor improvements.” Detailed information on the enforcement Notice action taken by HSE can be found on the public register at HSE - Register of prosecutions and notices.

4.     The GLAA does not hold this complete data, as illegal working is dealt with by Immigration Enforcement. In response to this FOI, Immigration and Enforcement have reported to us that “The Home Office has obligations under the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA) and in law generally to protect personal data. We have concluded that the information you have requested is exempt from disclosure under section 40(2) of the FOIA, because of the condition at section 40(3)(a)(i). This exempts personal data if disclosure would contravene any of the data protection principles in Schedule 1 to the DPA.”

5.     There is no dedicated budget for Operation Tacit, the work is being conducted out of each body’s existing budgets, and no specific funding has been set aside for Operation Tacit.