Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme
Debate between John Howell and Alex Norris(5 years, 2 months ago)
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Alex Norris
Many of the technical points about the scheme, such as those that the hon. Gentleman has made, will be seen in the pilot. We will have to test that and see the evaluation. I am interested to hear from the Minister how much that evaluation will be shared with all of us, so that we can have a say. Moving beyond agriculture, I know that other Members have an interest in the tourism sector, so if they wish to intervene at any point, I will be happy to accept.
There are real dangers in the scheme. Looking at history, a seasonal agricultural workers scheme ran from the second world war until only six years ago. It was not perfect: there were examples of abuse, the minimum wage being dodged, workers being misled about available work and recruiters purposefully over-recruiting. I have pressed the Home Office on this, so I know that
“ensuring the protection and wellbeing of participating migrant workers is of primary importance”,
but part of this debate is about wanting to know how that will be so and what safeguards and accountability will be in place.
John Howell (Henley) (Con)
I agree with what the hon. Gentleman is saying about workers’ rights, but is he aware that in 1961 this country signed a treaty produced by the Council of Europe to give all workers the proper rights within their countries? That is still in force, despite the wealth of European Union legislation that has come in since. Will he hang on to that as a hope for the future?
Alex Norris
Those protections are in place, although we have seen that they have not been enough in the past. In the 50 or so years since, it is important that we have built on them.