New streamlined board appointed

A new Board of Directors has been appointed to the Gangmasters Licensing Authority. Following an open selection process, six new appointments were announced on Friday afternoon last week (27 March).

The new members are:

 Simon Allbutt - a human resources specialist, with extensive experience of the food industry, human resources, organisational development and governance;

 Bill Butler - the outgoing chief executive of the Security Industry Authority. He has enforcement, compliance, regulation and change management experience;

 Angela Coleshill - the employment, skills and corporate director at the Food and Drink Federation, was a previous Board member chairing the GLA Finance and General Purposes Committee. She is a human resources specialist with significant experience of both the food industry and the GLA;

 Professor Linda Dickens MBE - Emeritus Professor of Industrial Relations at the University of Warwick and an Independent Member of the Council of Acas. Her other public roles include Deputy Chairman of the Central Arbitration Committee. She brings academic rigour and expertise in labour relations, employment law, and human resource management;

 Marshall Evans - a previous Board member representing labour providers. He was previously group operations director of Staffline and is a non-executive director of the Recruitment and Employment Federation. He has a substantial commercial background as well as significant experience of the GLA; and

 Paul Williams - chief executive of the Sea Fish Industry and a council member of the Shellfish Association of Great Britain.

In addition to the seafood industry he has broad commercial and regulatory experience. Appointments are subject to the necessary security clearances being obtained. The remaining two Board positions will be recruited later in the year. The first meeting of the new GLA Board will be on 22 April when it will review the GLA’s three-year strategic plan and the budget for 2015-16. The new appointees will also consider how it will engage with GLA’s stakeholder community through advisory committees, liaison groups and one-to-one visits. GLA Chair Margaret Beels said:

“I greatly look forward to working with the new board.

“They combine experience of the GLA’s past activities with fresh ideas for the future and working with the GLA’s key stakeholders the new board will lead the delivery of the authority’s updated strategic plan.”

On announcing the appointments on Friday, Home Office Minister for Modern Slavery and Organised Crime Karen Bradley said:

“I am very pleased to announce the appointment of a new Board of non-executive Directors for the Gangmasters Licensing Authority (GLA).

“The new Board has a wide range of background and experience to draw upon that will be invaluable in taking forward the GLA’s work to protect vulnerable and exploited workers and tackling unlicensed and criminal activity.

“I would also like to thank the outgoing Board members for their significant contribution over the past few years.”

Key priorities for the year ahead include implementing the GLA Licensing Standards to ensure that they best support the authority’s strategic aim, priorities and outcomes and presenting alternative sustainable funding models for consideration by the Home Office. The new Board’s term will be phased over two and three years until 19 March 2018.

ENDS

Press release issued by GLA Communications and Information Officer Paul Fearn. For more information from the GLA contact 0115 959 7069 or email communications@gla.gsi.gov.uk.

Notes to editors

1. The GLA operates throughout the UK and is a Non-Departmental Public Body.

2. The authority was formed in 2005 in the wake of the Morecambe Bay cockle picking disaster when 23 Chinese workers drowned on the sands.

3. The GLA licences companies that supply labour (gangmasters) for agriculture, horticulture, shellfish gathering as well as all associated processing and packaging.

4. Its main strategic priorities are to prevent worker exploitation, protect vulnerable people and tackle unlicensed and criminal activity.

5. Under the Gangmasters (Licensing) Act (2004), it is illegal both to operate as, or employ the services of, an unlicensed gangmaster.

www.gla.gov.uk