Confor is stepping up the pressure for forestry to be excluded from the Gangmasters Licensing Act (GLA) to reduce its costs and red tape.
The forestry organisation has co-ordinated calls on the issue to forestry minister Jim Paice from the devolved Scottish parliament and Welsh and Northern Irish Assemblies.
Exclusion of forestry from the GLA was recommended by the Forestry Regulation Task Force set up by Jim Paice to formulate a strategy for the future of the industry. It said that the Act was an “excessive burden” given the risk of forestry businesses breaching the regulations and also that excluding them would “free up resources within the GLA which could then be directed at ensuring compliance within the highest risk sectors”.
Now Confor wants Mr Paice to ensure the task force recommendation is implemented.
“The forestry sector is low risk, with small businesses operating on low margins,” said Confor head of policy Rupert Pigot. “Licensing is having a negative impact on jobs and we are calling on Mr Paice to remove this damaging and unecessary burden.”
Confor says it also has the support of forestry trade unions on the issue.
