A WATCHDOG created to look into the activities of gangmasters - the agents who control casual workers in the food industries - met in Evesham last week hear what local people expect from it in the future.

The Gangmaster Licensing Authority was set up following a spate of accidents, including last year's Morecombe Bay disaster when 23 Chinese cockle pickers lost their lives.

Its aim is to monitor the gangmasters and protect vulnerable workers.

Licences will be issued from April next year and from the autumn it will be illegal to use agricultural labour from an unlicensed provider.

The authority is holding a number of consultation events throughout the country. The Evesham meeting, at the Northwick Hotel, heard GLA chairman Paul Whitehouse and head of policy David Nix answer questions on license fees, how accommodation standards for workers would be monitored, enforcement mechanisms and possible loopholes.

It was chaired by Vale MP Peter Luff who said: "I welcome the open and constructive approach the GLA is taking in its early days. I was especially pleased to hear them say that they would be diligent in passing on to other enforcement bodies such as the police, immigration authorities, local housing departments and HM Revenue and Customs any evidence of irregularities they find.

"Agricultural workers have been exploited, the public exposed to danger and tax revenues lost precisely because the co-ordination of work in this area has been so poor. The GLA looks set to fulfil its prime objective of protecting the workers and to achieve a whole lot more too."