is such an thought completely against the governments idea to support and encourage small business which is what gangmasters are? Additionally the HSE could do a good job if they were financed properly

The GLA was set up to protect workers from abuse and exploitation and requires all labour providers to "the agricultural, horticultural, shellfish gathering and food processing and packaging industries" to be licenced and to maintain that licence by adhering to the specified standards. It goes beyond health and safety issues covering employment issues such as wages, accomodation, travel provision, etc. Without such a license a gangmaster cannot operate. GLA inspections, by necessity, are much more intrusive than an HSE inspection. GLA was an offshoot of the HSE specifically set up to identify and regulate such labour providers after the outcry over Morecambe Bay. It would simply loose its effectiveness if absorbed back into HSE, as HSE no longer has the required resource. Only last week one of the expert witnesses in the Morecambe Bay cockling tragedy prosecutions was prosecuted himself for continuing to act as a gangmaster without a licence and putting shellfish workers at risk. The report even includes photographs of his landrover being caught by the tide and wrecked - providing irrefutable evidence of risk! http://gla.defra.gov.uk/...shellfish%20industry.pdf The GLA still has a lot of work to do before its role can be discarded.