Action pledge to giveprotection to migrants

Paul Whitehouse said individuals who took advantage of the desire of eastern Europeans to better their circumstances by coming to the UK deserved to face the full force of the law.

Mr Whitehouse is the chairman of the Gangmasters Licensing Agency. He estimates some 800-plus gangmasters are operating around the country's farms, vegetable packing sheds and forests without being registered. This compares to the 1,200 who do abide by the law.

He said: 'It's absolutely vital we get information from the workers. We do need to hear from them what the problems are. We want to know who is doing what, where and when. Then we can go after them.

'Many workers in those circumstances are afraid to come forward but we don't need to know the names of those who contact us. It can be done anonymously through Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

'We are having some success but we do need more information. Just give it to us and our enforcement officers will do the rest,' he stated.

Mr Whitehouse was the keynote speaker at the first expanding communities conference to be held in Bognor. The town has an estimated 6,000-plus residents from countries such as Poland and Latvia.

The conference took place last Thursday at the Shoreline Conference Centre in Butlins, which sponsored the occasion.

Some 140 delegates attended the day-long event. Mr Whitehouse, the former Sussex chief constable, praised the event.

'This is the fifth conference of its kind that I have been to and it's the most successful. The mix of agencies who are here and the number of people who are attending makes it the best. It's a much wider spread than the other conferences,' he explained.

The Gangmasters Licensing Agency was set up by the government to regulate the large influx of migrant workers in the horticulture and forestry industries in recent years.

Those who employed individuals illegally in a form of slavery were harming everyone, stated Mr Whitehouse. The workers could suffer from being paid below the minimum wage, health and safety measures being ignored and illegal deductions from their wages.

For everyone else, the illegal gangmasters' failure to pay National Insurance and income tax damaged the government's finances.

Stiff penalties against the gangmasters were backed by tough sanctions against those who knowingly used them, he stressed.

The emphasis of the nationally important conference was about sharing experiences and good practice and developing positive working relationships.

It was aimed at working to support the integration of migrant workers into local communities and businesses such as local government, health, police, and voluntary organisations.

Speakers included those from the University of Chichester, the Arun cultural and ethnic diversity forum, Langmead Farms Ltd and Sussex Police.

The speeches were backed by eight workshops about subjects such as engaging communities, myth-busting and employing migrant workers.

Arun District Council's leader, Cllr Gill Brown, described the conference had been a success. 'It's been an extremely positive and I'm really pleased with it.

'There has been a real mix of agencies getting together. That's important rather than looking at the negatives of the situation of hugely expanding communities. We have to take the needs of the migrant workers into account and, as a district council, that's what this conference is all about.

'We want the workers to be part of our community. We don't want a them and us situation. We want them to join us,' she said.